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CARDINAL MERCIER 

'Pastorals, Jitters, ^Allocutions 
1914-1917 



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CARDINAL MERCIER 

T^astoralsj jTetterSy <iAllocutions 
1914-1917 

WITH A BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 
AND FOREWORD 

BY 

REV. JOSEPH F. STILLEMANS 

PRESIDENT OF THE BELGIAN RELIEF FUND 




NEW YORK 

P. J. KENEDY & SONS 

1917 



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COPYRIGHT, I917 
BY P. J. KENEDY & SONS 



JUL 31 1318 



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CONTENTS 

CBAPTER PAGE 

Foreword vii 

Cardinal Mercier, Biographical Sketch ... xi 

I. Patriotism and Endurance i 

II. An Appeal to Truth 37 

III. My Return from Rome 95 

IV. For Our Soldiers iii 

V. The Voice of God 123 

VI. Belgium Enslaved 145 

VII. Courage, My Brethren! 197 

VIII. Christian Vengeance 219 



FOREWORD 

A THREEFOLD purpose has prompted the 
edition of this book. First of all to give 
the American people an opportunity of reading 
and keeping within reach the principal writings 
and utterances of the heroic Belgian Cardinal 
from the time of Belgium's invasion up to the 
present day. True, the American people have 
an unbounded admiration for Cardinal Mercier. 
His figure loomed up as that of a giant the day 
he issued his Pastoral on "Patriotism and En- 
durance," openly accusing and defying the in- 
vader. It is perhaps safe to say that the majority 
of those who read at all in America have read 
the first Pastoral of the Cardinal, but few have 
read his further writings and discourses. These, 
although they have not made the same impres- 
sion upon the world at large, are equally energetic 
and noble and put forth the Cardinal as the "great 
man" of Belgium, in turn protesting energetically, 
tenderly encouraging and wisely enlightening. 
Cardinal Mercier did not deem his duty fulfilled 
after his first protest against the German invasion 
and the barbarous methods of the Germans. 
Since then he has not ceased to speak, condemn- 
ing repeatedly the various kinds of cruelty and 



Vlll FOREWORD 

atrocity a tragically inventive mind continues 
to produce. Thus he lifts up his voice "For 
Those in Captivity," protesting against the en- 
slavement of the Belgians by the horrifying sys- 
tem of deportations. When the Germans not 
only deny any and all atrocities on their part, 
but, cynically humoristic, turn the tables and 
accuse the Belgians of the most abominable 
crimes, he sends forth a protest as forceful as 
conclusive, and inasmuch as these accusations 
are directed especially against the Belgian priests, 
he makes "An Appeal to Truth" in a "Letter 
to the Bishops of Germany, Bavaria, and Austria- 
Hungary." Or he strives to keep up the courage 
of the people by means of his Pastorals — "My 
Return from Rome," "Courage, my Brethren," 
and "The Voice of God." Undaunted by fear, 
he speaks to his people of their great and good 
King, of the heroism of their absent army, ad- 
dressing them "For Our Soldiers." Courage, 
however, is not sufficient, nay, it is often blind. 
Belgium needs direction and light. Are not the 
subtile German doctors and the longheaded 
German professors trying to upset the Belgian 
mind and conscience? In vain do they labor. 
There is one watching, one always on duty; and 
taking as his subject several Christian virtues, but 
especially "Christian Vengeance," he will speak 
to the priests of Belgium and through the priests 
to the entire Belgian nation; pointing out to 



FOREWORD IX 

them straightforwardly and plainly their duties 
under the sorrowful circumstances of to-day, and 
showing them what must be their attitude and 
their behavior toward the unjust and cruel, 
though mighty, oppressor. 

The second purpose of this edition is to give 
the reader a more thorough insight into the con- 
ditions prevailing in Belgium. The reading of 
Cardinal Mercier's letters and allocutions creates 
in one's mind a perfectly clear picture of the 
situation in Belgium, and vivid images of the 
different episodes of the awful tragedy of which 
that unfortunate country is the innocent victim. 
It renders one familiar with the treatment meted 
out to the Belgians, as well as with the state of 
mind of the people in Belgium. Poor country, 
you will say, appalling are your sufferings, 
heartrending your sorrows! And still, blessed 
country! blessed in your glory! blessed in 
your courage! blessed not least in your noble 
son and heroic leader, your immortal Cardinal 
Mercier! 

Finally, this book is edited for the purpose of 
procuring financial assistance for Cardinal Mercier. 
From every corner of Belgium, from the ruins of 
castles and from the burned-down huts, appeals 
reach him every day. Thousands of people 
whom he knows personally and thousands of 
others beg him for a little assistance. Should 
we not try to make it possible for him to answer 



X FOREWORD 

these appeals at least in a measure? Whenever 
permitted by the enemy, he goes out personally 
from house to house in city and in hamlet. Should 
we not fill his hand so that he may be our alms- 
giver on his journeys of charity? P. J. Kenedy 
& Sons allow a very liberal royalty on this edi- 
tion. This royalty goes to Cardinal Mercier in 
its integrity. May I not appeal to you person- 
ally, dear reader? Shall your admiration for the 
great Belgian Cardinal confine itself to verha et 
voces? No; that would not be American! You 
will send a contribution in accordance with your 
means to: Miss Marie La Montagne, Treasurer 
of the Cardinal Mercier Fund, 431 West 47th St., 
New York, or to: J. P. Morgan & Co., 23 Wall St., 
New York, Depositary for Cardinal Mercier Fund. 

Rev. J. F. Stillemans 

President, Belgian Relief Fund, New Tork 



CARDINAL MERCIER 

THE PHILOSOPHER — THE BISHOP — THE MAN 

I AM not writing a eulogy of Cardinal Mercier. 
I do not feel equal to such a task. Further- 
more, what need is there of pointing out the glo- 
rious brilliancy of the sun? My purpose is merely 
to satisfy the legitimate demands of the reader 
by giving a short biographical notice and a few 
facts concerning Cardinal Mercier, the philosopher, 
the bishop, the man. 

The attempted sketch will be quite inexhaus- 
tive if for no other reason than the present state 
of affairs, which makes it impossible to lay one's 
hands on or to verify a great many facts. 

Desire Cardinal Mercier is sixty-six years of 
age, being born on November 22, 185 1, at Braine- 
I'Alleud, a village adjoining the historic bat- 
tlefield of Waterloo. He is a descendant of one 
of those typically Belgian families: honest, sim- 
ple, and above all deeply religious, whose pride it 
is to see their sons ascend the sacred steps of 
the altar. A maternal uncle of the Cardinal, the 
Very Rev. Adrian J. Croquet, was for many 
years one of the great pioneer missionaries in 
America and his name will forever be held in 



Xll CARDINAL MERCIER 

veneration in the Oregon missions, where he is 
commonly referred to as "The Saint of Oregon.'* 
Born at Braine-l'Alleud, like the Cardinal him- 
self, in 1818, Adrian J. Croquet was ordained a 
priest at Malines in 1844. After having been 
a professor at Basse Wavre and later assistant 
pastor in his native place, he came to Oregon 
in 1859, and from i860 until 1898 remained in 
charge of the missions of the Grandronde Reserva- 
tion in that State. The last four years of his life 
he spent with his relatives in Belgium, and de- 
parted from this world on August 8, 1902. Car- 
dinal Mercier has undoubtedly inherited the zeal 
and sanctity of his uncle, whom he also resembles 
very much physically. 

Having completed the regular course of studies 
at St. Rombaut's College of Malines and at the 
diocesan seminary of the same place, Desire 
Mercier was raised to the priesthood on April 4, 
1874. He then studied theology at the old Uni- 
versity of Louvain — that famous center of 
learning now so sorely afflicted — until he was 
appointed to the Chair of Philosophy of the semi- 
nary of Malines in 1877. In 1882 he was called 
to Louvain to become Professor of Philosophy. 
In 1886 Pope Leo XIII appointed him a domestic 
prelate, which appointment gave Father Mercier 
the right to the title of Monsignor. Long before 
he became a Cardinal, Professor Mercier occupied 
no mean position in the world of philosophy and 



CARDINAL MERCIER XUl 

science. Nearly thirty years ago, when the 
Catholic University of America was established at 
Washington, Monsignor Keane went so far as to 
entreat Leo XIII to prevail upon Professor Mercier 
to give the benefit of his talent and zeal to the 
American Catholic University. Leo XIII, how- 
ever, did not want to deprive Louvain of its 
great son, and when this learned Pope desired to 
renew the interest of the world in Thomistic or 
Scholastic, or, more correctly, "Neo-Scholastic" 
philosophy, a special chair was erected at the 
University of Louvain by the Bishops of Belgium, 
and Professor Mercier was made its incumbent. 
In a few years he built up the worldwide known 
"Higher Institute of Philosophy." 

Neo-Scholasticism is the development, not 
merely the resuscitation, of the Scholasticism of 
the Middle Ages of which St. Thomas Aquinas 
was the great exponent. It is a philosophy es- 
sentially based on science, modern science, fol- 
lowed up in every avenue of investigation; and 
whilst its principles are those of Aristotle and 
Thomas, its chief concern, however, is with the 
present day's systems. The synthetic explanation 
of phenomena, which it provides, presupposes 
a complete knowledge of the details furnished by 
each science. Newman very thoroughly explains 
this in his "Idea of a University": "The com- 
prehension of the bearings of one science on 
another, the use of each to each, and the location 



XIV CARDINAL MERCIER 

of them all, with one another, — this belongs, I 
conceive, to a sort of Science of Sciences, which is 
my conception of what is meant by philosophy." 

Monsignor Mercier was not only a torch-bearer 
in modern philosophy, — he was essentially a 
teacher, a professor. Those who studied under 
him can never forget him. How clear his doc- 
trines were, how complete his teachings, how 
convincing his arguments! Professor Mercier 
was not satisfied by merely giving lectures to 
the body of students as a whole; he had his eye 
on every individual and would make it a point 
to influence each one personally. He soon dis- 
covered the talented worker among his students, 
and such a one he would encourage and guide 
on to private, deeper study. The result of this 
has been that Belgium's great school of philos- 
ophy to-day might well be called the "Disciples 
of Mercier." 

Mercier's "Psychology" and "Logic," as well 
as his "Criteriology," are to be found in every 
philosopher's Hbrary and translated in all the 
leading languages. A few months ago there 
appeared the first volume of Mercier's "A Manual 
of Modern Scholastic Philosophy," edited by 
Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co., Ltd., 
London, and B. Herder, St. Louis. 

In the month of January, 1906, his Eminence 
Cardinal Goossens, Archbishop of Malines, went 
to his reward. Monsignor Mercier pronounced the 



CARDINAL MERCIER XV 

panegyric. Upon returning from the Cathedral 
after the funeral, his colleague, Professor Joseph 
Sencie, told Monsignor Mercier that he would 
be Cardinal Goossens' successor. This prophecy 
provoked a hearty laugh on the part of Monsignor 
Mercier. Nevertheless, it was soon to be ful- 
filled when, on February 21, Monsignor Mercier 
was appointed as Cardinal Goossens' succes- 
sor. Professor Mercier's reputation as a phi- 
losopher was so great, and the work he had 
accomplished so splendid and far-reaching, that 
in some quarters the opinion was expressed that 
such a man should not be taken away from his 
study and life work and intrusted with the 
active care of a diocese. Professor Mercier him- 
self held that opinion, as he sincerely stated in 
his farewell speech to the University of Louvain. 
However, there was but little need to fear. It 
soon became evident that Cardinal Mercier's 
master-mind could easily conquer a new field of 
activity. He at once showed himself conversant 
with every detail of the comphcated administra- 
tion of his great diocese, and soon succeeded in 
winning the admiration and love of priest and 
layman alike. Knowing full well that the 
Catholic people are what the priests make them — 
or, more correctly, what the priests are them- 
selves — Cardinal Mercier considers it his most 
sacred duty to labor for the highest possible up- 
lifting of his clergy, and takes special delight in 



XVI CARDINAL MERCIER 

preaching theological conferences and retreats 
for his priests and seminarians. Two volumes 
have been published and translated into English: 
"A mes Seminaristes" and "Retraite Pastorale." 
In these conferences, as well as in all the writings 
of the Cardinal, one may equally admire the ele- 
gance and simplicity of style and the thorough- 
ness and loftiness of thought. 

The Cardinal is at the head of an immense 
diocese in which there are not fewer than 2,500,000 
Catholics, divided into close to 800 parishes. 
It is not difficult to imagine how laborious the 
administration of such a diocese must be and how 
many problems are to be solved every day. As 
an administrator, Cardinal Mercier is progres- 
sive and modern — always ready to accept healthy 
reforms and energetic in obtaining results. Though 
fortiter in re he never fails to be suaviter in modo. 

The Pastoral Letter of Cardinal Mercier on 
"Patriotism and Endurance" has gone down in 
history as the greatest document of the present 
European war. 

Those familiar with the ecclesiastical history 
of Belgium were not surprised at hearing the 
yoice of Belgium's Cardinal on this occasion. 
The Bishops of Belgium throughout the centuries 
have been liberty's first champions and patriotism's 
greatest heralds. Cardinal Frankenberg resisted 
in turn Austria, France, and Prussia, and died 
in exile. The famous Bishop of Ghent, Prince 



CARDINAL MERCIER XVll 

de Broglie, energetically opposed Napoleon the 
Great, and later on, William, the King of Holland, 
and he also died in exile. Both these prelates 
withstood the foreign oppressor to his face, and 
neither imprisonment nor exile could deter them 
from their duty. Frankenberg issued his "Decla- 
ration" and de BrogHe his "Pastoral." These 
two documents may well be put in a class with 
Cardinal Mercier's famous letter. 

It has long been the custom of the Belgian 
Bishops to write yearly pastorals on the leading 
questions and great problems of the day. No 
Hbrary contains greater learning, deeper thought, 
or more wisdom than the collection of these 
documents. It was eminently proper, therefore, 
that in this, the greatest hour of sorrow for Bel- 
gium, the voice of Cardinal Mercier should be 
heard. CathoHc Belgium, nay everybody in 
Belgium, looked to him for light and encourage- 
ment. 

Cardinal Mercier is a wonderful man — familiar 
with the greatest problems, yet concerned with 
the smallest details; honored as few men have 
been, yet simple as a child; working from early 
morning until far into the night, yet always hav- 
ing time to listen to everyone. He is known to 
the whole of Belgium as a living saint — kindness 
and readiness personified. Whatever he does he 
does well, because into whatever he does he puts 
every fiber of his great heart. At the altar he 



XVIU CARDINAL MERCIER 

is a saint; in private conversation, a father; in 
the pulpit, a warm, convincing orator; in all 
difficult situations, a wise counselor and a safe 
guide. A man of action is Cardinal Mercier, 
placing his confidence in Divine Providence 
above all things, true enough, but realizing the 
need of cooperation and work on the part of man. 

Cardinal Mercier never knew how to spare 
himself. As early as 8 o'clock people of all classes 
in society begin to gather in the Cardinal's ante- 
room. There the aristocrat and the laborer, the 
noble dame and the poor girl, meet on equal 
terms. All are admitted to his presence, and the 
whole day is taken up in listening to those visitors, 
who are received exactly in the order of their 
arrival. Some will come to confer with the 
Cardinal on most important questions, others 
bring the most trivial suggestions, others again 
will come for personal advice and consolation, 
but all are received with the same fatherly kind- 
ness and leave his presence wiser and stronger 
and happier. 

On days not occupied by this tedious reception 
of all classes of people, the Cardinal visits every 
part of his immense diocese. A few years ago the 
Cardinal was driving in his automobile from 
Malines to Antwerp. A little child was crossing 
the road in front of the automobile. The Car- 
dinal, upon noticing the danger to the child, 
lost no time in shouting to his chauffeur to turn 



CARDINAL MERCIER XIX 

the machine on to the wall alongside the road, 
with the result that he was violently thrown out of 
the automobile and severely injured. His face 
to-day bears the marks of this accident, and he 
has often been heard to say how much better it 
was for him to have met with this accident than 
to have had the slightest injury befall the little 
child. 

Cardinal Mercier is tall, very tall, and very 
slender. He has the aspect of an ascetic, and not 
only has he the aspect thereof, but he leads the 
life of an ascetic — simple, even severe. The 
eyes are the image of the soul. The Cardinal has 
wonderful eyes, which bespeak the greatest kind- 
ness and yet pierce you through and through. In 
his conversation he is so essentially human, so 
very much interested in you, so anxious to help 
you and please you. 

Cardinal Mercier has inscribed on his coat-of- 
arms the words "Apostolus Jesu Christi." He 
meant undoubtedly that it is his desire to labor 
as the apostles have labored. History will pro- 
claim that he has been an apostle in every sense 
of the word, and will compare him with St. Paul, 
with whom he may say, "I have fought a good 
fight. ... I have kept the faith. . . . There is 
laid up for me a crown of justice. . . ." This 
crown of justice, which is one also of glory, the 
world has even now placed upon the noble brow 
of Cardinal Mercier, 



I 

PATRIOTISM AND ENDURANCE 



I 

' PATRIOTISM AND ENDURANCE 
christmas, i914 
My very dear Brethren 

T CANNOT tell you how instant and how 
-*- present the thought of you has been to me 
throughout the months of suffering and of mourn- 
ing through which we have passed. I had to 
leave you abruptly on the 20th of August in order 
to fulfil my last duty towards the beloved and 
venerated Pope whom we have lost, and in 
order to discharge an obligation of the conscience 
from which I could not dispense myself, in the 
election of the successor of Pius the Tenth, the 
Pontiff" who now directs the Church under the 
title, full of promise and of hope, of Benedict 
the Fifteenth. 

It was in Rome itself that I received the tidings 
— stroke after stroke — of the partial destruction 
of the Cathedral church of Louvain, next of the 
burning of the Library and of the scientific 
installations of our great University and of the 
devastation of the city, and next of the wholesale 
shooting of citizens, and tortures inflicted upon 

3, 



4 CARDINAL MERCIER 

women and children, and upon unarmed and 
undefended men. And while I was still under 
the shock of these calamities the telegraph brought 
us news of the bombardment of our beautiful 
metropolitan church, of the church of Notre 
Dame au dela la Dyle, of the episcopal palace, 
and of a great part of our dear city of Malines. 

Afar from my diocese, without means of com- 
munication with you^ I was compelled to lock my 
grief within my own afflicted heart, and to carry 
it, with the thought of you, which never left 
me, to the foot of the Crucifix. 

I craved courage and light, and sought them in 
such thoughts as these: A disaster has visited 
the world, and our beloved little Belgium, a nation 
so faithful in the great mass of her population 
to God, so upright in her patriotism, so noble 
in her King and Government, is the first sufferer. 
She bleeds; her sons are stricken down within 
her fortresses and upon her fields, in defense of 
her rights and of her territory. Soon there will 
not be one Belgian family not in mourning. Why 
all this sorrow, my God ? Lord, Lord, hast Thou 
forsaken us? Then I looked upon the Crucifix. 
I looked upon Jesus, most gentle and humble 
Lamb of God, crushed, clothed in His blood as 
in a garment, and I thought I heard from His 
own mouth the words which the Psalmist uttered 
in His name: "O God, my God, look upon me; 
why hast Thou forsaken me? O my God, I 



PATRIOTISM AND ENDURANCE 5 

shall cry, and Thou wilt not hear." And forth- 
with the murmur died upon my lips; and I re- 
membered what Our Divine Savior said in His 
Gospel: "The disciple is not above the master, 
nor the servant above his lord." The Christian 
is the servant of a God who became man in order 
to suffer and to die. To rebel against pain, to 
revolt against Providence, because it permits 
grief and bereavement, is to forget whence we 
came, the school in which we have been taught, 
the example that each of us carries graven in 
the name of a Christian, which each of us honors 
at his hearth, contemplates at the altar of his 
prayers, and of which he desires that his tomb, 
the place of his last sleep, shall bear the sign. 

My dearest Brethren, I shall return by and 
by to the providential law of suffering, but you 
will agree that since it has pleased a God made 
man, who was holy, innocent, without stain, 
to suffer and to die for us who are sinners, who 
are guilty, who are perhaps criminals, it ill be- 
comes us to complain whatever we may be called 
upon to endure. The truth is that no disaster 
on earth, striking creatures only, is comparable 
with that which our sins provoked, and whereof 
God Himself chose to be the blameless victim. 

Having recalled to mind this fundamental 
truth, I find it easier to summon you to face 
what has befallen us, and to speak to you simply 
and directly of what is your duty, and of what 



CARDINAL MERCIER 



may be your hope. That duty I shall express in 
two words: Patriotism and Endurance. 



PATRIOTISM 

My dearest Brethren, I desire to utter, in 
your name and my own, the gratitude of those 
whose age, vocation, and social conditions cause 
them to benefit by the heroism of others, without 
bearing in it any active part. 

When, immediately on my return from Rome, 
I went to Havre to greet our Belgian, French, 
and Enghsh wounded; when, later, at MaHnes, 
at Louvain, at Antwerp, it was given to me to 
take the hands of those brave men who carried 
a bullet in their flesh, a wound on their fore- 
head, because they had marched to the attack 
of the enemy, or borne the shock of his onslaught, 
it was a word of gratitude to them that rose to 
my lips. "O vahant friends," I said, "it was for 
us, it was for each one of us, it was for me, that 
you risked your lives and are now in pain. I am 
moved to tell you of my respect, of my thankful- 
ness, to assure you that the whole nation knows 
how much she is in debt to you." 

For in truth our soldiers are our saviors. 

A first time, at Liege, they saved France; a 
second time, in Flanders, they arrested the ad- 
vance of the enemy upon Calais. France and 
England know it; and Belgium stands before 



PATRIOTISM AND ENDURANCE 7 

them both, and before the entire world, as a 
nation of heroes. Never before in my whole 
Hfe did I feel so proud to be a Belgian as when, 
on the platforms of French stations, and halting 
a while in Paris, and visiting London, I was 
witness of the enthusiastic admiration our allies 
feel for the heroism of our army. Our King is, 
in the esteem of all, at the very summit of the 
moral scale; he is doubtless the only man who 
does not recognize that fact, as, simple as the 
simplest of his soldiers, he stands in the trenches 
and puts new courage, by the serenity of his 
face, into the hearts of those of whom he re- 
quires that they shall not doubt of their country. 
The foremost duty of every Belgian citizen at 
this hour is gratitude to the army. 

If any man had rescued you from shipwreck 
or from a fire, you would assuredly hold your- 
selves bound to him by a debt of everlasting 
thankfulness. But it is not one man, it is two 
hundred and fifty thousand men who fought, 
who suffered, who fell for you so that you might 
be free, so that Belgium might keep her inde- 
pendence, her dynasty, her patriotic unity; so 
that, after the vicissitudes of battle, she might 
rise nobler, purer, more erect, and more glorious 
than before. 

Pray daily, my Brethren, for these two hun- 
dred and fifty thousand, and for their leaders to 
victory; pray for our brothers in arms; pray 



8 CARDINAL MERCIER 

for the fallen; pray for those who are still en- 
gaged; pray for the recruits who are making 
ready for the fight to come. 

In your name I send them the greeting of our 
fraternal sympathy and our assurance that not 
only do we pray for the success of their arms 
and for the eternal welfare of their souls, but 
that we also accept for their sake all the dis- 
tress, whether physical or moral, that falls to 
our own share in the oppression that hourly 
besets us, and all that the future may have in 
store for us, in humiliation for a time, in anxiety, 
and in sorrow. In the day of final victory we 
shall all be in honor; it is just that to-day we 
should all be in grief. 

To judge by certain rumors that have reached 
me, I gather that from districts that have 
had least to suffer some bitter words have 
arisen towards our God, words which, if spoken 
with cold calculation, would be not far from 
blasphemous. 

Oh, all too easily do I understand how natural 
instinct rebels against the evils that have fallen 
upon Catholic Belgium; the spontaneous thought 
of mankind is ever that virtue should have its 
instantaneous crown, and injustice its imme- 
diate retribution. But the ways of God are not 
our ways, the Scripture tells us. Providence 
gives free course, for a time measured by Divine 
wisdom, to human passions and the conflict 



PATRIOTISM AND ENDURANCE 9 

of desires. God, being eternal, is patient. The 
last word is the word of mercy, and it belongs 
to those who beheve in love. "Why art thou 
sad, O my soul.? and why dost thou disquiet 
me.? ^uare tristis es anima mea, et quare con- 
turhas me?" Hope in God. Bless Him always; 
is He not thy Saviour and thy God .? Spera in Deo 
quoniam adhuc confitehor illi, salutare vultus mei 
et Deus mens. 

When holy Job, whom God presented as an 
example of constancy to the generations to come, 
had been stricken, blow upon blow, by Satan, 
with the loss of his children, of his goods, of 
his health, his enemies approached him with 
provocations to discouragement; his wife urged 
upon him a blasphemy and a curse. "Dost thou 
still continue in thy simplicity.? Curse God, 
and die." But the man of God was unshaken 
in his confidence. "And he said to her: Thou 
hast spoken Hke one of the fooHsh women: if 
we have received good things at the hand of 
God, why should we not receive evil.? Dominus 
dedit, Dominus ahstulit; sicut Domino placuit ita 
factum est. Sit nomen Domini benedictum." And 
experience proved that saintly one to be right. 
It pleased the Lord to recompense, even here 
below. His faithful servant. "The Lord gave 
Job twice as much as he had before. And for 
his sake God pardoned his friends." 

Better than any other man, perhaps, do I 



lO CARDINAL MERCIER 

know what our unhappy country has under- 
gone. Nor will any Belgian, I trust, doubt of 
what I suffer in my soul, as a citizen and as a 
Bishop, in sympathy with all this sorrow. These 
last four months have seemed to me age-long. 
By thousands have our brave ones been mown 
down; wives, mothers, are weeping for those 
they shall not see again; hearths are desolate; 
dire poverty spreads; anguish increases. At 
Malines, at Antwerp, the people of two great 
cities have been given over, the one for six hours, 
the other for thirty-four hours of a continu- 
ous bombardment, to the throes of death. I 
have traversed the greater part of the districts 
most terribly devastated in my diocese; ^ and 
the ruins I beheld, and the ashes, were more 
dreadful than I, prepared by the saddest of 
forebodings, could have imagined. Other parts of 
my diocese, which I have not yet had time to 
visit,^ have in like manner been laid waste. 
Churches, schools, asylums, hospitals, convents 

^ Duffel, Lierre, Berlaer Saint Rombaut, Konings-Hoyckt, 
Mortsel, Waelhem, Muysen, Wavre Sainte Caterine, Wavre Notre- 
Dame, Sempst, Weerde, Eppeghen, Hofstade, Elewyt, Rymenam, 
Boort-Meerbeek, Wespelaer, Haecht, Werchter-Wackerzeel, Rotse- 
laer, Tremeloo; Louvain and its suburban environs, Blauwput, 
Kessel-Loo, Boven-Loo, Linden, Herent, Thildonck, Bueken, Relst, 
Aerschot, Wesemael, Hersselt, Diest, Schaffen, Molenstede, Rillaer 
Gelrode. 

2 Haekendover, Roosbeek, Bautersem, Budingen, Neerlinder, 
Ottignies, Mousty, Wavre, Beyghem, Capelle-au-Bois, Humbeek, 
Nieuwenrode, Liezele, Londerzeel, Heyndonck, Mariekerke, Weert, 
Blaesvelt 



PATRIOTISM AND ENDURANCE II 

in great numbers, are in ruins. Entire villages 
have all but disappeared. At Werchter-Wacker- 
zeel, for instance, out of three hundred and eighty- 
homes, a hundred and thirty remain; at Tre- 
meloo two-thirds of the village are overthrown; 
at Bueken out of a hundred houses twenty are 
standing; at SchafFen one hundred and eighty- 
nine houses out of two hundred are destroyed — 
eleven still stand. At Louvain the third part of 
the buildings are down; one thousand and 
seventy-four dwellings have disappeared; on 
the town land and in the suburbs, one thousand 
eight hundred and twenty-three houses have 
been burnt. 

In this dear city of Louvain, perpetually in 
my thoughts, the magnificent church of St. 
Peter will never recover its former splendor. 
The ancient college of St. Ives, the art schools, 
the consular and commercial schools of the 
University, the old markets, our rich library 
with its collections, its unique and unpublished 
manuscripts, its archives, its gallery of great 
portraits of illustrious rectors, chancellors, pro- 
fessors, dating from the time of its foundation, 
which preserved for masters and students alike 
a noble tradition and were an incitement in their 
studies — all this accumulation of intellectual, 
of historic, and of artistic riches, the fruit of the 
labors of five centuries — all is in the dust. 

Many a parish lost its pastor. There is now 



12 CARDINAL MERCIER 

sounding in my ears the sorrowful voice of an 
old man of whom I asked whether he had had 
Mass on Sunday in his battered church. "It 
is two months," he said, "since we had a church." 
The parish priest and the curate had been in- 
terned in a concentration camp. 

Thousands of Belgian citizens have in like 
manner been deported to the prisons of Ger- 
many, to Miinsterlagen, to Celle, to Magdeburg. 
At Miinsterlagen alone three thousand one hun- 
dred civil prisoners were numbered. History will 
tell of the physical and moral torments of their 
long martyrdom. Hundreds of innocent men 
were shot. I possess no complete necrology; 
but I know that there were ninety-one shot at 
Aerschot, and that there, under pain of death, 
their fellow citizens were compelled to dig their 
graves. In the Louvain group of communes one 
hundred and seventy-six persons, men and women, 
old men and sucklings, rich and poor, in health 
and sickness, were shot or burnt. 

In my diocese alone I know that thirteen 
priests or religious were put to death. ^ One of 

^ Their brothers in religion or in the priesthood will wish to 
know their names. Here they are: Dupierreux, of the Society of 
Jesus; Brothers Sebastian and AUard of the Congregation of the 
Josephites; Brother Candide of the Congregation of the Brothers 
of Mercy; Father Maximin, Capuchin, and Father Vincent, Con- 
ventual; Lombaerts, parish priest at Boven-Loo; Goris, parish 
priest at Autgaerden; Carette, professor at the Episcopal college of 
Louvain; De Clerck, parish priest at Bueken; Dergent, parish 
priest at Gelrode; Wouters Jean, parish priest at Pont-Brule. We 



PATRIOTISM AND ENDURANCE 1 3 

these, the parish priest of Gelrode, sujfFered, I 
beheve, a veritable martyrdom. I made a pil- 
grimage to his grave, and, amid the little flock 
which so lately he had been feeding with the 
zeal of an apostle, there did I pray to him that 
from the height of Heaven he would guard his 
parish, his diocese, his country. 

We can neither number our dead nor com- 
pute the measure of our ruins. And what would 
it be if we turned our sad steps towards Liege, 
Namur, Audenne, Dinant, Tamines, Charleroi, 
and elsewhere ? ^ 

And there where lives were not taken, and 
there where the stones of buildings were not 
thrown down, what anguish unrevealed! Fami- 

have reason to believe that the parish priest of Herent, Van Bladel, 
an old man of seventy-one, was also killed; until now, however, his 
body has not been found. 

1 I have said that thirteen ecclesiastics had been shot within the 
diocese of Malines. There were, to my own actual personal knowl- 
edge, more than thirty in the dioceses of Namur, Tournai, and 
Liege: Schlogel, parish priest of Hastiere; Gille, parish priest of 
Couvin; Pieret, curate at Etalle; Alexandre, curate at Mussy-la- 
Ville; Marechal, seminarist at Maissin; the Reverend Father Gillet, 
Benedictine of Maredsous; the Reverend Father Nicolas, Premon- 
stratensian of the Abbey of LefFe; two Brothers of the same Abbey; 
one Brother of the Congregation of Oblates; Poskin, parish priest 
of Surice; Hotlet, parish priest of Les AUoux; Georges, parish priest 
of Tintigny; Glouden, parish priest of Latour; Zenden, retired 
parish priest at Latour; Jacques, a priest; Druet, parish priest of 
Acoz; PoUart, parish priest of Roselies; Labeye, parish priest of 
Blegny-Trembleur; Thielen, parish priest of Haccourt; Janssen, 
parish priest of Heure le Romain; Chabot, parish priest of Foret; 
Dossogne, parish priest of Hockay; Reusonnet, curate of Olme; 
Bilande, chaplain of the institute of deaf-mutes at Bouge; Docq, a 
priest, and others. 



14 CARDINAL MERCIER 

lies, hitherto Hving at ease, now in bitter want; 
all commerce at an end, all careers ruined; in- 
dustry at a standstill; thousands upon thou- 
sands of working-men without employment; 
working-women, shop-girls, humble servant-girls 
without the means of earning their bread; and 
poor souls forlorn on the bed of sickness and 
fever,, crying, "O Lord, how long, how long?" 

There is nothing to reply. The reply remains 
the secret of God. 

Yes, dearest Brethren, it is the secret of God. 
He is the master of events and the sovereign 
director of the human multitude. Domini est 
terra et plenitudo ejus; orbis terrarum et universi 
qui habitant in eo. The first relation between 
the creature and his Creator is that of absolute 
dependence. The very being of the creature is 
dependent; dependent are his nature, his facul- 
ties, his acts, his works. At every passing mo- 
ment that dependence is renewed, is incessantly 
reasserted, inasmuch as, without the will of 
the Almighty, existence of the first single in- 
stant would vanish before the next. Adoration, 
which is the recognition of the sovereignty of 
God, is not, therefore, a fugitive act; it is the 
permanent state of a being conscious of his own 
origin. On every page of the Scriptures Jehovah 
affirms His sovereign dominion. The whole 
economy of the Old Law, the whole history of 
the Chosen People, tend to the same end — to 



PATRIOTISM AND ENDURANCE 1 5 

maintain Jehovah upon His throne and to cast 
idols down. "I am the first and the last. I am 
the Lord, and there is none else; there is no 
God beside Me. I form the Hght and create 
darkness, I make peace and create evil. Woe 
to him that gainsayeth his maker, a sherd of the 
earthen pots. Shall the clay say to him that 
fashioneth it. What art thou making, and thy 
work is without hands.? Tell ye, and come, and 
consult together. A just God and a Savior, 
there is none beside Me." 

Ah, did the proud reason of mankind dream 
that it could dismiss our God? Did it smile in 
irony when, through Christ and through His 
Church, He pronounced the solemn words of 
expiation and of repentance.? Vain of fugitive 
successes, O light-minded man, full of pleasure 
and of wealth, hast thou imagined that thou 
couldst suffice even to thyself? Then was God 
set aside in oblivion, then was He misunder- 
stood, then was He blasphemed, with accla- 
mation, and by those whose authority, whose 
influence, whose power had charged them with 
the duty of causing His great laws and His great 
order to be revered and obeyed. Anarchy then 
spread among the lower ranks of mankind, and 
many sincere consciences were troubled by the 
evil example. How long, O Lord, they wondered, 
how long wilt Thou suffer the pride of this ini- 
quity? Or wilt Thou finally justify the impious 



l6 CARDINAL MERCIER 

opinion that Thou carest no more for the work 
of Thy hands? A shock from a thunderbolt, 
and behold all human foresight is set at naught. 
Europe trembles upon the brink of destruction. 

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of 
wisdom. 

Many are the thoughts that throng the breast 
of man to-day, and the chief of them all is this: 
God reveals Himself as the Master. The nations 
that made the attack, and the nations that are 
warring in self-defense, aHke confess themselves 
to be in the hand of Him without whom nothing 
is made, nothing is done. Men long unaccus- 
tomed to prayer are turning again to God. Within 
the army, within the civil world, in public, and 
within the individual conscience, there is prayer. 
Nor is that prayer to-day a word learnt by rote, 
uttered lightly by the lip; it surges from the 
troubled heart, it takes the form, at the feet of 
God, of the very sacrifice of life. The being of 
man is a whole offering to God. This ^s wor- 
ship, this is the fulfilment of the primal moral 
and rehgious law: the Lord thy God shalt thou 
adore, and Him only shalt thou serve. And even 
those who murmur, and whose courage is not 
sufficient for submission to the hand that smites 
us and saves us, even these implicitly acknowl- 
edge God to be the Master, for if they blaspheme 
Him, they blaspheme Him for His delay in closing 
with their desires. 



PATRIOTISM AND ENDURANCE 1 7 

But as for us, my Brethren, we will adore 
Him in the integrity of our souls. Not yet do 
we see, in all its magnificence, the revelation 
of His wisdom, but our faith trusts Him with 
it all. Before His justice we are humble, and 
in His mercy hopeful. With holy Tobias we 
know that because we have sinned He has chas- 
tised us, but because He is merciful He will 
save us. 

It would perhaps be cruel to dwell upon our 
guilt now, when we are paying so well and so 
nobly what we owe. But shall we not confess 
that we have indeed something to expiate? He 
who has received much, from him shall much 
be required. Now, dare we say that the moral 
and religious standard of our people has risen 
as its economic prosperity has risen .r* The ob- 
servance of Sunday rest, the Sunday Mass, the 
reverence for marriage, the restraints of modesty 
— what had you made of these? What, even 
within Christian families, had become of the 
simplicity practiced by our fathers, what of the 
spirit of penance, what of respect for authority? 
And we too, we priests, we religious, I, the 
Bishop, we whose great mission it is to present 
in our lives, yet more than in our speech, the 
Gospel of Christ, have we earned the right to 
speak to our people the word spoken by the 
Apostle to the nations, "Be ye followers of me, 
as I also am of Christ"? We labor indeed we 



1 8 CARDINAL MERCIER ^ 

pray indeed, but it is all too little. We should 
be, by the very duty of our state, the pubHc 
expiators for the sins of the world. But which 
was the thing dominant in our lives — expia- 
tion, or our comfort and well-being as citizens? 
Alas, we have all had times in which we too 
fell under God's reproach to His people after 
the escape from Egypt: "The beloved grew fat 
and kicked, they have provoked Me with that 
which was no god, and I will provoke them with 
that which is no people." Nevertheless He 
will save us; for He wills not that our adver- 
saries should boast that they, and not the 
Eternal, did these things. "See ye that I alone 
am, and there is no other God beside Me. I 
will kill and I will make to live, I will strike 
and I will heal." 

God will save Belgium, my Brethren, you 
cannot doubt it. 

Nay rather. He is saving her. 

Across the smoke of conflagration, across the 
steam of blood, have you not glimpses, do you 
not perceive signs, of His love for us? Is there 
a patriot among us who does not know that 
Belgium has grown great? Nay, which of us 
would have the heart to cancel this last page 
of our national history? Which of us does not 
exult in the brightness of the glory of this shat- 
tered nation? When in her throes she brings 
forth heroes, our Mother Country gives her own 



PATRIOTISM AND ENDURANCE 1 9 

energy to the blood of those sons of hers. Let us 
acknowledge that we needed a lesson in patriot- 
ism. There were Belgians, and many such, who 
wasted their time and their talents in futile 
quarrels of class with class, of race with race, of 
passion with personal passion. 

Yet when, on the second of August, a mighty 
foreign power, confident in its own strength and 
defiant of the faith of treaties, dared to threaten 
us in our independence, then did all Belgians, 
without difference of party, or of condition, or 
of origin, rise up as one man, close-ranged about 
their own king, and their own government, 
and cry to the invader: "Thou shalt not go 
through!" 

At once, instantly, we were conscious of our 
own patriotism. For down within us all is some- 
thing deeper than personal interests, than per- 
sonal kinships, than party feeling, and this is 
the need and the will to devote ourselves to that 
more general interest which Rome termed the 
public thing. Res -puhlica. And this profound 
will within us is patriotism. 

Our country is not a mere concourse of per- 
sons or of families inhabiting the same soil, having 
amongst themselves relations, more or less in- 
timate, of business, of neighborhood, of a com- 
munity of memories, happy or unhappy. Not 
so; it is an association of living souls, subject 
to a social organization to be defended and safe- 



20 CARDINAL MERCIER 

guarded at all costs, even the cost of blood, under 
the leadership of those presiding over its for- 
tunes. And it is because of this general spirit 
that the people of a country live a common life 
in the present, through the past, through the 
aspirations, the hopes, the confidence in a life 
to come, which they share together. Patriot- 
ism, an internal principle of order and of unity, 
an organic bond of the members of a nation, 
was placed by the finest thinkers of Greece and 
Rome at the head of the natural virtues. Aris- 
totle, the prince of the philosophers of an- 
tiquity, held disinterested service of the City 
— that is, the State — to be the very ideal of 
human duty. And the religion of Christ makes 
of patriotism a positive law; there is no perfect 
Christian who is not also a perfect patriot. For 
our religion exalts the antique ideal, showing 
it to be realizable only in the Absolute. Whence, 
in truth, comes this universal, this irresistible 
impulse which carries at once the will of the 
whole nation in one single effort of cohesion 
and of resistance in face of the hostile menace 
against her unity and her freedom.? Whence 
comes it that in an hour all interests were merged 
in the interest of all, and that all lives were to- 
gether offered in willing immolation.? Not that 
the State is worth more, essentially, than the 
individual or the family, seeing that the good 
of the family and of the individual is the cause 



PATRIOTISM AND ENDURANCE 21 

and reason of the organization of the State. 
Not that our country is a Moloch on whose altar 
lives may lawfully be sacrificed. The rigidity 
of ancient morals and the despotism of the Caesars 
suggested that false principle — and modern 
militarism tends to revive it — that the State 
is omnipotent, and that the discretionary power 
of the State is the rule of Right. Not so, replies 
Christian theology. Right is Peace, that is, the 
interior order of a nation, founded upon Justice. 
And Justice itself is absolute only because it 
formulates the essential relation of man with 
God and of man with man. Moreover, war for 
the sake of war is a crime. War is justifiable 
only if it is the necessary means for securing peace. 
St. Augustine has said: "Peace must not be a 
preparation for war. And war is not to be made 
except for the attainment of peace." In the 
light of this teaching, which is repeated by St. 
Thomas Aquinas, patriotism is seen in its reli- 
gious character. Family interests, class interests, 
party interests, and the material good of the 
individual take their place, in the scale of values, 
below the ideal of patriotism, for that ideal is 
Right, which is absolute. Furthermore, that 
ideal is the public recognition of Right in national 
matters, and of national Honor. Now there is 
no Absolute except God. God alone, by His 
sanctity and His sovereignty, dominates all hu- 
man interests and human wills. And to affirm 



22 CARDINAL MERCIER 

the absolute necessity of the subordination of 
all things to Right, to Justice, and to Truth is 
impHcitly to affirm God. 

When, therefore, humble soldiers whose hero- 
ism we praise answer us with characteristic 
simpHcity, "We only did our duty," or "We 
were bound in honor," they express the religious 
character of their patriotism. Which of us does 
not feel that patriotism is a sacred thing, and that 
a violation of national dignity is in a manner a 
profanation and a sacrilege? 

I was asked lately by a staff officer whether 
a soldier falling in a righteous cause — and our 
cause is such, to demonstration — is not veritably 
a martyr. Well, he is not a martyr in the rigor- 
ous theological meaning of the word, inasmuch 
as he dies in arms, whereas the martyr delivers 
himself, undefended and unarmed, into the 
hands of the executioner. But if I am asked 
what I think of the eternal salvation of a brave 
man who has consciously given his life in defense 
of his country's honor, and in vindication of 
violated justice, I shall not hesitate to reply 
that without any doubt whatever Christ crowns 
his military valor, and that death, accepted in 
this Christian spirit, assures the safety of that 
man's soul. "Greater love than this no man 
hath," said Our Savior, "that a man lay down 
his Hfe for his friends." And the soldier who 
dies to save his brothers, and to defend the hearths 



PATRIOTISM AND ENDURANCE 23 

and altars of his country, reaches this highest of 
all degrees of charity. He may not have made 
a close analysis of the value of his sacrifice; but 
must we suppose that God requires of the plain 
soldier in the excitement of battle the methodical 
precision of the moralist or the theologian ? Can 
we who revere his heroism doubt that his God 
welcomes him with love? 

Christian mothers, be proud of your sons. 
Of all griefs, of all our human sorrows, yours is 
perhaps the most worthy of veneration. I think 
I behold you in your affliction, but erect, stand- 
ing at the side of the Mother of Sorrows, at the 
foot of the Cross. Suffer us to offer you not only 
our condolence but our congratulation. Not 
all our heroes obtain temporal honors, but for 
all we expect the immortal crown of the elect. 
For this is the virtue of a single act of perfect 
charity: it cancels a whole lifetime of sins. It 
transforms a sinful man into a saint. 

Assuredly a great and a Christian comfort is 
the thought that not only amongst our own 
men, but in any belligerent army whatsoever, 
all who, in good faith, submit to the discipline 
of their leaders in the service of a cause they 
believe to be righteous, are sharers in the eternal 
reward of the soldier's sacrifice. And how many 
may there not be among these young men of 
twenty who, had they survived, might possibly 
not have had the resolution to hve altogether 



24 CARDINAL MERCIER 

well, and yet in the impulse of patriotism had the 
resolution to die so well? 

Is it not true, my Brethren, that God has the 
supreme art of mingling His mercy with His 
wisdom and His justice? And shall we not ac- 
knowledge that if war is a scourge for this earthly 
life of ours, a scourge whereof we cannot easily 
estimate the destructive force and the extent, it 
is also for multitudes of souls an expiation, a 
purification, a force to lift them to the pure 
love of their country and to perfect Christian 
unselfishness ? 

ENDURANCE 

We may now say, my Brethren, without un- 
worthy pride, that our little Belgium has taken 
a foremost place in the esteem of nations. I am 
aware that certain onlookers, notably in Italy 
and in Holland, have asked how it could be 
necessary to expose this country to so immense 
a loss of wealth and of life, and whether a verbal 
manifesto against hostile aggression, or a single 
cannon-shot on the frontier, would not have 
served the purpose of protest. But assuredly all 
men of good feeling will be with us in our rejec- 
tion of these paltry counsels. Mere utilitarianism 
is no sufficient rule of Christian citizenship. 

On the 19th of April, 1839, a treaty was signed 
in London by King Leopold, in the name of 
Belgium, on the one part, and by the Emperor 



PATRIOTISM AND ENDURANCE 25 

of Austria, the King of France, the Queen of 
England, the King of Prussia, and the Emperor 
of Russia, on the other; and its seventh article 
decreed that Belgium should form a separate and 
perpetually neutral State, and should be held 
to the observance of this neutrahty in regard 
to all other States. The co-signatories promised, 
for themselves and their successors, upon their 
oath, to fulfil and to observe that treaty in every 
point and every article without contravention, 
or tolerance of contravention. Belgium was thus 
bound in honor to defend her own independence. 
She kept her oath. The other Powers were 
bound to respect and to protect her neutrality. 
Germany violated her oath; England kept hers. 

These are the facts. 

The laws of conscience are sovereign laws. 
We should have acted unworthily had we evaded 
our obligation by a mere feint of resistance. 
And now we would not rescind our first resolu- 
tion; we exult in it. Being called upon to write 
a most solemn page in the history of our country, 
we resolved that it should be also a sincere, also 
a glorious page. And as long as we are required 
to give proof of endurance, so long we shall 
endure. 

All classes of our citizens have devoted their 
sons to the cause of their country; but the 
poorer part of the population have set the no- 
blest example, for they have suffered also priva- 



26 CARDINAL MERCIER 

tion, cold, and famine. If I may judge of the 
general feeling from what I have witnessed in 
the humbler quarters of MaHnes, and in the most 
cruelly afflicted districts of my diocese, the 
people are energetic in their endurance. They 
look to be righted; they will not hear of 
surrender. 

Affliction is, in the hand of Divine Omnipo- 
tence, a two-edged sword. It wounds the rebel- 
lious, it sanctifies him who is willing to endure. 

God proveth us, as St. James has told us, 
but He "is not a tempter of evils." All that 
comes from Him is good, a ray of light, a pledge 
of love. "But every man is tempted by his 
own concupiscence. . . . Blessed is he that en- 
dureth temptation, for when he hath been proved 
he shall receive the crown of Hfe, which God 
hath promised to them that love Him." 

Truce, then, my Brethren, to all murmurs of 
complaint. Remember St. Paul's words to the 
Hebrews, and through them to all of Christ's 
flock, when, referring to the bloody sacrifice of 
Our Lord upon the cross, he reminded them 
that they had not yet resisted unto blood. Not 
only to the Redeemer's example shall you look, 
but also to that of the thirty thousand, perhaps 
forty thousand, men who have already shed 
their Hfe-blood for their country. In compari- 
son with them what have you endured who are 
deprived of the daily comforts of your lives. 



PATRIOTISM AND ENDURANCE 27 

your newspapers, your means of travel, commu- 
nication with your families? Let the patriotism 
of our army, the heroism of our King, of our be- 
loved Queen in her magnanimity, serve to stimu- 
late us and support us. Let us bemoan ourselves 
no more. Let us deserve the coming deHverance. 
Let us hasten it by our virtue even more than 
by our prayers. Courage, Brethren. Suffering 
passes away; the crown of life for our souls, the 
crown of glory for our nation, shall not pass, 

I do not require of you to renounce any of 
your national desires. On the contrary, I hold 
it as part of the obligations of my episcopal 
office to instruct you as to your duty in face of 
the Power that has invaded our soil and now 
occupies the greater part of our country. The 
authority of that Power is no lawful authority. 
Therefore in soul and conscience you owe it 
neither respect, nor attachment, nor obedience. 

The sole lawful authority in Belgium is that 
of our King, of our Government, of the elected 
representatives of the nation. This authority 
alone has a right to our affection, our submission. 

Thus, the invader's acts of pubHc administra- 
tion have in themselves no authority, but legiti- 
mate authority has tacitly ratified such of those 
acts as affect the general interest, and this ratifi- 
cation, and this only, gives them juridic value. 

Occupied provinces are not conquered prov- 
inces. Belgium is no more a German province 



28 CARDINAL MERCIER 

than Galicia is a Russian province. Neverthe- 
less the occupied portion of our country is in a 
position it is compelled to endure. The greater 
part of our towns, having surrendered to the 
enemy on conditions, are bound to observe those 
conditions. From the outset of military opera- 
tions the civil authorities of the country urged 
upon all private persons the necessity of absten- 
tion from hostile acts against the enemy's army. 
That instruction remains in force. It is our 
army, and our army solely, in league with the 
valiant troops of our Allies, that has the honor 
and the duty of national defense. Let us intrust 
the army with our final deliverance. 

Towards the persons of those who are holding 
dominion among us by military force, and who 
assuredly cannot but be sensible of the chival- 
rous energy with which we have defended, and 
are still defending, our independence, let us con- 
duct ourselves with all needful forbearance. 
Some among them have declared themselves will- 
ing to mitigate, as far as possible, the severity 
of our situation and to help us to recover some 
minimum of regular civic life. Let us observe 
the rules they have laid upon us so long as those 
rules do not violate our personal liberty, nor our 
consciences as Christians, nor our duty to our 
country. Let us not take bravado for courage, 
nor tumult for bravery. 

You especially, my dearest Brethren in the 



PATRIOTISM AND ENDURANCE 29 

Priesthood, be you at once the best examples 
of patriotism and the best supporters of pubHc 
order. On the field of battle you have been 
magnificent. The King and the Army admire 
the intrepidity of our military chaplains in face 
of death, their charity at the work of the ambu- 
lance. Your Bishops are proud of you. 

You have suffered greatly. You have endured 
much calumny. But be patient; history will 
do you justice. I to-day bear my witness for 
you. 

Wherever it has been possible I have ques- 
tioned our people, our clergy, and particularly 
a considerable number of priests who had been 
deported to German prisons, but whom a prin- 
ciple of humanity, to which I gladly render 
homage, has since set at liberty. Well, I affirm 
upon my honor, and I am prepared to assert 
upon faith of my oath, that until now I have 
not met a single ecclesiastic, secular or regular, 
who had once incited civilians to bear arms 
against the enemy. All have loyally followed 
the instructions of their Bishops, given in the 
early days of August, to the effect that they were 
to use their moral influence over the civil popula- 
tion so that order might be preserved and military 
regulations observed. 

I exhort you to persevere in this ministry of 
peace, which is for you the sanest form of pa- 
triotism; to accept with all your hearts the 



30 CARDINAL MERCIER 

privations you have to endure; to simplify still 
further, if it is possible, your way of life. One 
of you who is reduced by robbery and pillage 
to a state bordering on total destitution, said to 
me lately, " I am living now as I wish I had lived 
always." 

Multiply the efforts of your charity, corporeal 
and spiritual. Like the great Apostle, do you 
endure daily the cares of your Church, so that 
no man shall suffer loss and you not suffer loss,^ 
and no man fall and you not burn with zeal for 
him. Make yourselves the champions of all 
those virtues enjoined upon you by civic honor 
as well as by the Gospel of Christ. "Whatso- 
ever things are true, whatsoever modest, what- 
soever just, whatsoever holy, whatsoever lovely, 
whatsoever of good fame, if there be any virtue, 
if any praise of discipline, think on these things." 
So may the worthiness of our lives justify us, 
my most dear Colleagues, in repeating the noble 
claim of St. Paul: "The things which ye have 
learned, and received, and heard, and seen, in 
me, these do ye, and the God of peace shall be 
with you." 

CONCLUSION 

Let us continue, then, dearest Brethren, to 
pray, to do penance, to attend Holy Mass, and 
to receive Holy Communion for the sacred in- 
tention of our dear country. ... I recommend 



PATRIOTISM AND ENDURANCE 3 1 

parish priests to hold a funeral service on behalf 
of our fallen soldiers, on every Saturday. 

Money, I know well, is scarce with you all. 
Nevertheless, if you have little, give of that 
little, for the succor of those among your fellow 
countrymen who are without shelter, without 
fuel, without sufficient bread. I have directed 
my parish priests to form for this purpose, in 
every parish, a relief committee. Do you second 
them charitably and convey to my hands such 
alms as you can save from your superfluity, 
if not from your necessities, so that I may be 
the distributor to the destitute who are known 
to me. 

Our distress has moved the other nations. 
England, Ireland, and Scotland; France, Hol- 
land, the United States, Canada, have vied 
with each other in generosity for our relief. It is 
a spectacle at once most mournful and most 
noble. Here again is a revelation of the Provi- 
dential Wisdom which draws good from evil. In 
your name, my Brethren, and in my own, I offer 
to the governments and the nations that have 
succored us the assurance of our admiration and 
our gratitude. 

With a touching goodness our Holy Father 
Benedict the Fifteenth has been the first to 
incline his heart towards us. When, a few mo- 
ments after his election, he deigned to take me 
in his arms, I was bold enough there to ask that 



32 CARDINAL MERCIER 

the first Pontifical Benediction he spoke should 
be given to Belgium, already in deep distress 
through the war. He eagerly closed with my 
wish, which I knew would also be yours. To-day, 
with delicate kindness, His Holiness has decided 
to renounce the annual offering of Peter's Pence 
from Belgium. In a letter dated on the beautiful 
festival of the Immaculate Virgin, December the 
eighth, he assures us of the part he bears in our 
sufferings, he prays for us, calls down upon our 
Belgium the protection of Heaven, and exhorts 
us to hail in the then approaching advent of the 
Prince of Peace the dawn of better days. Here 
is the text of this valued message: 

" To our dear Son, Desire Mercier, Cardinal Priest 
of the Holy Roman Church, of the title of St. 
Peter in Chains, Archbishop of Malines, at 
Malines. 

"Our Dear Son, 

Health and Apostolic Benediction. 

"The fatherly solicitude which we feel for all 
the faithful whom Divine Providence has in- 
trusted to our care causes us to share their griefs 
even more fully than their joys. 

"Could we then fail to be moved by keenest 
sorrow at the sight of the Belgian nation which 
we so dearly love, reduced by a most cruel 
and most disastrous war to this lamentable 
state.? 



PATRIOTISM AND ENDURANCE 33 

"We behold the King and his august family, 
the members of the Government, the chief per- 
sons of the country, bishops, priests, and a whole 
people enduring woes which must fill with pity 
all gentle hearts, and which our own soul, in the 
fervor of paternal love, must be the first to 
compassionate. Thus, under the burden of this 
distress and this mourning, we call, in our prayers, 
for an end to such misfortunes. May the God 
of mercy hasten the day! Meanwhile we strive 
to mitigate, as far as in us lies, this excessive 
suffering. Therefore the step taken by our dear 
Son, Cardinal Hartmann, Archbishop of Cologne, 
at whose request it was arranged that French or 
Belgian priests detained in Germany should have 
the treatment of officers, gave us great satisfac- 
tion, and we have expressed our thanks to him 
for his action. 

"As regards Belgium, we have been informed 
that the faithful of that nation, so sorely tried, 
did not neglect, in their piety, to turn towards 
us their thoughts, and that even under the blow 
of so many calamities they proposed to gather 
this year, as in all preceding years, the offerings 
to St. Peter, which supply the necessities of the 
Apostolic See. This truly incomparable proof 
of piety and of attachment filled us with admira- 
tion; we accept it with all the affection that is 
due from a grateful heart; but having regard 
to the painful position in which our dear children 



34 CARDINAL MERCIER 

are placed, we cannot bring ourselves to favor 
the fulfillment of that project, noble though it is. 
If any alms are to be gathered, our wish is that 
the money should be entirely devoted to the bene- 
fit of the Belgian people, who are as illustrious 
by reason of their nobihty and their piety as they 
are to-day worthy of all sympathy, 

"Amid the difficulties and anxieties of the 
present hour we would remind the sons who are 
so dear to us that the arm of God is not short- 
ened, that He is ever able to save, that His ear is 
not deaf to prayer. 

'^Let the hope of Divine aid increase with 
the approach of the festival of Christmas and 
of the mysteries that celebrate the Birth of Our 
Lord, and recall that peace which God pro- 
claimed to mankind by His angels. 

"May the souls of the suffering and afflicted 
find comfort and consolation in the assurance 
of the paternal tenderness that prompts our 
prayers. Yes, may God take pity upon the 
Belgian people, and grant them the abundance 
of all good. 

"As a pledge of these prayers and good wishes, 
we now grant to all, and in the first place to you, 
our dear Son, the Apostolic Benediction. 

"Given in Rome, at St. Peter's, on the feast 
of the Immaculate Conception of Our Lady, in 
the year MCMXIV, the first of our Pontificate. 

"Benedict XV, Pope." 



PATRIOTISM AND ENDURANCE 35 

One last word, my dearest Brethren. At the 
outset of these troubles I said to you that in 
the day of the liberation of our territory we 
should give to the Sacred Heart and to the 
Blessed Virgin a public testimony of our grati- 
tude. Since that date I have been able to con- 
sult my colleagues in the Episcopate, and in 
agreement with them, I now ask you to make, 
as soon as possible, a fresh effort to hasten the 
construction of the national basilica, promised 
by Belgium in honor of the Sacred Heart. As 
soon as the sun of peace shall shine upon our 
country, we shall redress our ruins, we shall 
restore shelter to those who have none, we shall 
rebuild our churches, we shall reconstitute our 
libraries, and we shall hope to crown this work 
of reconciliation by raising, upon the heights of 
the capital of Belgium, free and Catholic, that 
national basilica of the Sacred Heart. Further- 
more, every year we shall make it our duty to 
celebrate solemnly, on the Friday following Corpus 
Christi, the festival of the Sacred Heart. 

Lastly, in every region of the diocese the 
clergy will organize an annual pilgrimage of 
thanksgiving to one of the privileged sanctuaries 
of the Blessed Virgin, in order to pay especial 
honor to the Protectress of our national indepen- 
dence and universal Mediatrix of the Christian 
commonwealth. 

The present letter shall be read on the fol- 



36 CARDINAL MERCIER 

lowing dates — on the first day of the year and 
on the Sundays following the day on which it 
shall severally reach you. 

Accept, my dearest Brethren, my wishes and 
prayers for you, and for the happiness of your 
families, and receive, I pray you, my paternal 
benediction. 

^ D. J. Card. Mercier, 

Archbishop of Malines. 



II 

AN APPEAL TO TRUTH 



II 

AN APPEAL TO TRUTH 

NOVEMBER 24, I915 

To Their Eminences the Cardinals and Their Lord- 
ships the Bishops of Germany, Bavaria, and 
Austria-Hungary . 

Your Eminences and Your Lordships 

FOR a year, we Catholic Bishops — you, the 
Bishops of Germany on the one hand, and 
we, the Bishops of Belgium, France, and England, 
on the other — have presented a disconcerting 
spectacle to the world. 

Hardly had the German armies trodden the 
soil of our country, when the rumor spread among 
you that our civilians were taking part in mili- 
tary operations; that the women of Vise and of 
Liege were gouging out the eyes of your soldiers; 
that the populace at Antwerp and at Brussels 
had plundered the property of expelled Germans. 

In the first days of August, Dom Ildefons Her- 
wegen. Abbot of Maria-Laach, sent a telegram to 
the Cardinal Archbishop of Malines, begging 
him, for the love of God, to protect the German 
soldiers from the tortures which our fellow 
citizens were supposed to be inflicting on them. 

39 



40 CARDINAL MERCIER 

But it was common knowledge that our Govern- 
ment had taken all necessary measures to insure 
that all citizens were instructed in the laws of 
war: in every parish the inhabitants were obliged 
to leave their weapons at the town hall; the 
people were warned, by means of notices, that 
the only citizens authorized to bear arms were 
those regularly enrolled in the army; and the 
clergy, anxious to second the authority of the 
State, had given circulation to the instructions, 
published by the Government, orally, by parish 
notices, and by posting bills on the church doors. 

Having been accustomed for a century to a 
reign of peace, we had no idea that anyone could 
honestly impute violent instincts to us. Strong 
in our integrity and in the sincerity of our peace- 
ful intentions, we replied to the slanderous charges 
o{ franc s-tireurs and "gouged eyes" by a shrug 
of the shoulders, convinced that the truth would 
not be long in manifesting itself. 

The Belgian clergy and episcopate were in 
personal relations with many priests, monks, and 
bishops of Germany and of Austria; the Eucha- 
ristic Congresses of Cologne in 1909 and of Vienna 
in 191 2 had given them the opportunity of know- 
ing one another more closely and of mutually 
appreciating one another. We had also the 
assurance that the Catholics of the nations at 
war with ours would not judge us hastily; and, 
without being much disturbed by the contents of 



AN APPEAL TO TRUTH 4I 

the telegram of Dom Ildefons, the Cardinal of 
Malines contented himself with begging him to 
unite with us in preaching humanity; "for," he 
added, "we are informed that the German troops 
are shooting innocent Belgian priests." 

From the very first days of August, crimes 
had been committed at Battice, Vise, Berneau, 
Herve, and elsewhere, but we tried to hope that 
they would remain isolated cases, and knowing 
the very distinguished connections of Dom Ilde- 
fons, we put great reliance on the following decla- 
ration, which he was good enough to send us on 
August II: — "I am informed, on the highest 
authority, that a formal order has been given 
by the military command to the German soldiers 
to spare the innocent. As regards the very de- 
plorable fact that even priests have lost their 
lives, I would call your Lordship's attention to 
the circumstance that the costumes of priests 
and monks have lately become objects of sus- 
picion and oflFense, since French spies have made 
use of the ecclesiastical costume, and even of 
that of nuns, in order to disguise their hostile 
intentions." 

Nevertheless, the acts of hostility against the 
innocent population continued. 

On August 18, 1 914, the Bishop of Liege 
wrote to Commandant Bayer, Governor of the 
town of Liege: "Several villages have been 
destroyed one after the other; important people, 



42 CARDINAL MERCIER 

among them some priests, have been shot; others 
have been arrested, and all have protested their 
innocence. I know the priests of my diocese; 
I cannot believe that a single one of them has been 
guilty of acts of hostility towards German sol- 
diers. I have visited several ambulances and I 
have seen that the German wounded are cared 
for there with the same attention as the Belgian. 
They admit it themselves." ^ 

No reply was received to this letter. 

At the beginning of September the German 
Emperor lent the weight of his authority to the 
scandalous accusations of which our innocent 
people were the object. He sent to Mr. Wilson, 
the President of the United States, a telegram, 
which, as far as we know, has not been withdrawn 
to this hour: "The Belgian Government has 
publicly encouraged the civilian population to take 
part in this war, for which it has been long care- 
fully preparing. The cruelties committed in the 
course of this guerrilla warfare, by women and 
even by priests on doctors and nurses, have been 
such that my Generals have been obliged at last 
to have recourse to the severest measures to 
punish the guilty, and to hinder the bloodthirsty 

^ See page 65 for the complete text of the letter of the Bishop of 
Liege. The protest was repeated on August 21 to General von 
Kolowe, who had become military governor of Liege; then on 
August 29 to His Excellency, Baron von der Goltz, Governor-General 
of the occupied provinces of Belgium, and residing, at this time, 
in the episcopal palace of Liege. 



AN APPEAL TO TRUTH 43 

population from continuing to commit these 
abominable crimes. Several villages, and even 
the town of Louvain, have had to be destroyed 
(except the very beautiful Town Hall) for our 
defense and the protection of my troops. My 
heart bleeds when I see that such measures are 
rendered inevitable, and when I think of the 
numberless innocent people who have lost their 
homes and property in consequence of the crimes 
in question." 

This telegram was posted up in Belgium by 
order of the German Government on Septem- 
ber II. The very next day, September 12, 
the Bishop of Namur asked for an interview 
with the military Governor of Namur, and pro- 
tested against the accusation which the Emperor 
sought to make against the Belgian clergy. He 
maintained the innocence of all the members of 
the clergy who had been shot or ill-treated, and 
declared that he was himself ready to publish 
any guilty deeds which were in reality established. 

The offer of the Bishop of Namur was not ac- 
cepted, and his protest had no result. 

Calumny was thus given a free course. The 
German press fomented it. The organ of the 
CathoHc Center, the Cologne Gazette, rivaled the Lu- 
theran press in its chauvinisms, and on the day 
when thousands of our fellow citizens (eccle- 
siastics and laity from Vise, Aerschot, Wesemel, 
Herent, Louvain, and twenty other localities as 



44 CARDINAL MERCIER 

innocent of deeds of war or of cruelties as you and 
we), were taken prisoners, led through the sta- 
tions of Aix-la-Chapelle and Cologne, and for 
hours were exhibited as a spectacle for the morbid 
curiosity of the Rhenish metropolis, they had the 
pain of finding that their Catholic brethren poured 
out as many insults on them as the Lutherans 
of Celle, Soltau, and Magdeburg. 

Not a voice in Germany was raised in defense 
of the victims. 

The legend, which turned innocent into guilty 
and crime into an act of justice, thus gained 
credence, and, on May lo, 191 5, the "White 
Book," the official organ of the German Empire, 
did not scruple to repeat the same charges, and 
to circulate in neutral countries these odious 
and cowardly lies: "It is indisputable that Ger- 
man wounded have been robbed, murdered, and 
even frightfully mutilated by the Belgian popu- 
lation, and that even women and young girls 
have taken part in these abominations. The 
eyes of wounded Germans have been gouged 
out, their ears, noses, fingers, and sexual organs 
cut off, or their bowels opened. In other cases 
German soldiers have been poisoned, hanged 
from trees, sprinkled with boihng liquids, and 
sometimes burnt, so that they have died in 
frightful agony. These brutish proceedings of 
the population not only violate the rules expressly 
laid down by the Geneva Convention as to the 



AN APPEAL TO TRUTH 45 

care and attention due to the enemy wounded, 
V'Ut are contrary to the fundamental principles of 
the laws of war and of humanity." ^ 

Put yourselves, for a moment, in our place, 
dear Brethren in the faith and priesthood. 

We know that these shameless accusations of 
the Imperial Government are calumnies from end 
to end. We know it, and we swear it. 

Now, your Government, to justify them, calls 
evidence which has not been submitted to any 
cross-examination. 

Is it not your duty, not only in charity, but in 
strict justice, to enlighten yourselves and your 
flocks, and to furnish us with the opportunity of 
establishing our innocence legally? 

You already owed us this satisfaction in the 
name of Catholic charity, which is above national 
struggles; you owe it to us to-day in strict justice, 
because a Committee, which has at least your 
tacit approval, and is composed of the most 
highly esteemed politicians, scientists, and theo- 
logians in Germany, has supported the official 
accusations, and has intrusted to the pen of a 
Catholic priest. Professor A. J. Rosenberg, of 
Paderborn, the task of summing them up in a 
book, entitled "The Lying Accusations of the 
French Catholics against Germany." It has thus 
thrown upon Catholic Germany the responsibility 

^ " Die volkerrechtswidrige Fiihrung des belgischen Volkskriegs: 
Denkschrift" (S. 4). 



46 CARDINAL MERCIER 

for the active and public propagation of the 
calumny against the Belgian people. 

When the French book, in reply to which the 
German Catholics publish their own, came out, 
their Eminences, Cardinal von Hartmann, Arch- 
bishop of Cologne, and Cardinal von Bettinger, 
Archbishop of Munich, felt impelled to send a 
telegram to their Emperor in these terms: "Re- 
volted by the libels against the German Fatherland 
and its glorious army, contained in the work ' The 
German War and Catholicism,' we feel in our 
hearts the necessity of expressing our sorrowful 
indignation to Your Majesty in the name of all 
the German Bishops. We shall not fail to make 
our complaint to the Supreme Head of the 
Church." 

Now, most reverend Eminences and venerated 
Colleagues of the German Episcopacy, in our 
turn, we, Archbishop and Bishops of Belgium, 
revolted by the calumnies against our Belgian 
land and its glorious army, contained in the Im- 
perial "White Book," and reproduced in the reply 
of the German Catholics to the work of the French 
Catholics, we also feel impelled to express to our 
King, to our Government, to our army, and to 
our country our sorrowful indignation. 

And, in order that our protest should not stand 
in conflict with yours without any useful result, 
we ask you to agree to help us to set up a tribunal 
to hear both sides. You will appoint, by virtue 



AN APPEAL TO TRUTH 47 

of your office, as many members as you wish and 
such as you please to choose. We will appoint 
the same number — for instance, three on each 
side. We will join in asking the Bishops of a 
neutral State, Holland, Spain, Switzerland, or 
the United States, to choose us an arbitrator, who 
will preside over the sittings of the tribunal. 

You have carried your complaints to the Su- 
preme Head of the Church, 

It is not just that he should hear your voice 
only. 

You will be honest enough to help us to make 
ours heard. 

Both you and we have the same duty — to lay 
before His Holiness attested documents on which 
he may be able to found his decision. 

You are not ignorant of the eff"orts which we 
have repeatedly made, to obtain from the Power, 
which is in occupation of Belgium, the establish- 
ment of a tribunal of inquiry. 

The Cardinal of Malines, on two occasions, in 
writing, January 24, 191 5, and February 10, 
191 5, and the Bishop of Namur, in a letter to 
the military Governor of his Province, April 12, 
191 5, urged the establishment of a tribunal to 
be composed of an equal number of German and 
Belgian arbitrators and presided over by a repre- 
sentative of a neutral State. 

Our soHcitations met with an obstinate refusal. 
Yet the German authorities were careful to set 



48 CARDINAL MERCIER 

up inquiries; but they wanted them to be one- 
sided, that is, without any legal value. 

After having refused the inquiry which the 
Cardinal of Malines asked for, the German 
authorities proceeded to various localities, where 
priests had been shot and peaceable citizens 
massacred or made prisoners, and there took the 
depositions of witnesses, some of whom were chosen 
indiscriminately and others carefully selected. 
Sometimes it was in the presence of a representa- 
tive of the local authority, who was ignorant of 
the German language, and so was obliged to 
accept and to sign on trust the official reports. 
They believed in this way they could form con- 
clusions which might afterwards be presented to 
the public as the results of examination and 
cross-examination. 

The German inquiry at Louvain in November, 
1914, was conducted under these conditions. 
It is thus devoid of authority. 

So it is natural that we should turn to you. 

You will grant us the Court of Arbitration, 
which the occupying Power has refused us. You 
will obtain for us from your Government a public 
declaration that the witnesses will be asked by 
you and us to tell all they know without fear of 
reprisals. Before you, under the shelter of your 
moral authority, they will feel more secure, and 
will be encouraged to relate what they have seen 
and heard; the world will have faith in the Epis- 



AN APPEAL TO TRUTH 49 

copate of our two united countries; our joint 
control will guarantee the authenticity of the 
witnesses and the fidelity of the official reports. 
An inquiry, so conducted, will inspire confidence. 

We ask for this inquiry. Your Eminences and 
venerated Colleagues, above all, to avenge the 
honor of the Belgian people. Slanders on the 
part of your people and its highest representatives 
have violated it. You know, as well as we, the 
adage of theology, moral, human. Christian and 
Catholic — no pardon without restitution: Non 
remittitur peccatum, nisi restituatur ahlatum. 

Your people, through the mouthpiece of their 
political powers and highest moral authorities, 
have accused our fellow citizens of having com- 
mitted atrocities and horrors upon wounded 
Germans, of which the "White Book" and the 
Catholic manifesto, above mentioned, pointed out 
the details; we oppose a formal denial to all 
these accusations, and we ask to be allowed 
to prove the facts upon which we found this 
denial. 

In return, in order to justify the atrocities 
committed in Belgium by the German army, 
the poHtical Power by the very heading of the 
"White Book," Die volkerrechtswidrige Filhrung 
des helgischen Volkskriegs (the violation of inter- 
national law by the methods of war employed 
by the Belgian people), and the hundred Catholic 
signatories of the work. The German War and 



50 CARDINAL MERCIER 

Catholicism; a German reply to French attacks, 
affirm that the German army in Belgium legiti- 
mately defended itself against a treacherous or- 
ganization of franc s-tireurs. 

We declare that nowhere in Belgium was there 
an organization of franc s-tireurs, and we claim 
the right to prove the truth of our assertion in 
the name of our calumniated national honor. 

You will call whom you wish before the tribunal, 
at which all parties will be present. We will 
invite to appear there all the priests of the par- 
ishes where civilians, priests, monks, or laymen 
were put to death or threatened with death to 
the cry of Man hat geschossen (someone has fired). 
We will ask all these priests, if you wish, to sign 
their depositions on oath, and then, at the risk 
of maintaining that all the Belgian clergy is 
perjured, you will be obHged to accept the con- 
clusions of this solemn and decisive inquiry, and 
the civilized world will be also unable to deny 
them. 

But, your Eminences and venerated Colleagues, 
we should remind you that you have the same 
interest as ourselves in setting up a court of honor. 

For we, through direct experience, know and 
declare that the German army gave itself up in 
Belgium, in a hundred different places, to plun- 
dering, incendiarism, imprisonments, massacres, 
and sacrileges, contrary to all justice and to every 
sentiment of humanity. 



AN APPEAL TO TRUTH 5 1 

We declare this, notably in the cases of the 
communes, the names of which appeared in our 
Pastoral Letters and in the two notes addressed 
by the Bishops of Namur and of Liege, on October 
31 and November i, 191 5, respectively, to His 
Holiness, Pope Benedict XV, to His Excellency, 
the Nuncio at Brussels, and to the ministers or 
representatives of neutral countries in residence 
at Brussels. 

Fifty innocent priests and thousands of inno- 
cent Catholics were put to death; hundreds of 
others, whose lives have been saved by cir- 
cumstances independent of the will of their 
persecutors, were in danger of death; thousands 
of innocent persons, with no previous trial, were 
imprisoned; many of them underwent months 
of detention, and, when they were released, the 
most minute questioning, to which they were 
submitted, revealed no guilt in any of them. 

These crimes cry to heaven for vengeance. 

If, in formulating these denunciations, we are 
calumniating the German army, or if the military 
authority had just reasons for commanding or 
permitting those acts which we call criminal, it is 
to the honor and the national interest of Germany 
to confute us. So long as German justice is de- 
nied, we claim the right and the duty of denounc- 
ing what, in all sincerity, we consider as a grave 
attack on justice and on our honor. 

The Chancellor of the German Empire, at the 



52 CARDINAL MERCIER 

sitting on August 4, declared that the invasion 
of Luxembourg and of Belgium was "contrary to 
the principles of international law." He recog- 
nized that, "in disregarding the rightful pro- 
testations of the Governments of Luxembourg 
and of Belgium, he committed a wrong which he 
promised to make good." The Pope, alluding 
intentionally to Belgium, as well as condescend- 
ing to write in that sense to the Minister, Mon- 
sieur van der Heuvel, by his Eminence, Cardinal 
Gasparri, Secretary of State, pronounced in his 
Consistorial address of January 22, 191 5, this 
irrevocable decision: "It appertains to the Roman 
Pontiff, whom God has set up as sovereign in- 
terpreter and avenger of 'eternal law,' to pro- 
claim, before all things, that no one can for any 
reason whatever violate justice." 

Since then, however, politicians and casuists 
have attempted to evade or to weaken those 
decisive words. In their reply to the French 
Catholics, the German Catholics indulge in the 
same paltry subtleties, and would like to prove 
them by a fact. They have at their disposal 
two testimonies: one, anonymous, from someone 
who said he saw, on July 26, some French 
officers on the Boulevard Anspach, at Brussels, 
in conversation with some Belgian officers; the 
other was from a certain Gustave Lochard, of 
Rimogne, who deposes that "two regiments of 
French dragoons, the 28 and the 30, and a 



I 



AN APPEAL TO TRUTH 53 

battery crossed the Belgian frontier on the 
evening of July 31, 1914, and remained entirely 
on Belgian soil for the whole following week." 

Now, the Belgian Government declare "that 
before the declaration of war, no French troop, 
however small, had entered Belgium." And 
they add, "There is no honest evidence which 
can confute this assertion." 

The Government of our King therefore declares 
the statement of the German Catholics to be an 
error. 

Here we have a question of paramount im- 
portance, both political and moral, on which it 
is our duty to enlighten the public conscience. 

But if, nevertheless, you decline the examina- 
tion of this general question, we would ask you, 
at any rate, to attempt to check the evidence 
upon which the German Catholics have relied 
as decisive against us. The deposition of this 
Gustave Lochard rests on facts easy to check. 
The German Catholics will be anxious to clear 
themselves of the reproach of error and will 
make it a duty to their consciences to retract, 
if they have allowed themselves to be deceived 
to our prejudice. 

We are well aware that you are reluctant to 
believe that the regiments whose discipline, 
honesty, and religious faith you say you know, 
could have allowed themselves to commit the 
inhuman deeds with which we reproach them. 



54 CARDINAL MERCIER 

You want to persuade yourselves that it is not so, 
because it cannot be so. 

And, constrained by the evidence, we reply to 
you that it can be, because it is. 

In face of facts no presumption holds good. 

For you, as for us, there is only one issue: 
the proof of the facts by a commission whose 
impartiality is, and appears to all, unimpeach- 
able. 

We have no dijfficulty in understanding your 
feelings. 

Pray believe that we also respect the spirit of 
discipline, of industry, and of faith, of which we 
had so often received proofs and witnessed the 
manifestations amongst your fellow countrymen. 
Very many are the Belgians who confess to-day 
the bitterness of their deception. But they have 
lived through the sinister events of August 
and September. In spite of themselves the truth 
has overcome their most deeply rooted impres- 
sions. 

The fact is no longer to be denied — Belgium 
has suffered martyrdom. 

When foreigners from neutral countries — 
Americans, Dutch, Swiss, Spaniards — question 
us as to the manner in which the German invasion 
was conducted, and when we tell them of certain 
scenes to the horror of which, in spite of our- 
selves, we are compelled to testify, we strive to 
lessen the impression which the narrative would 



AN APPEAL TO TRUTH 55 

make, feeling that the naked truth passes the 
bounds of credibiHty. 

Nevertheless, when, in presence of the whole 
evidence, you have been able to analyze the 
causes, both remote and immediate, of what 
one of your generals (in face of the ruins of the 
little village of SchafFen-Iez-Diest, and of the 
martyrdom of the pastor of the parish) called *'a 
tragic error"; when you have heard of the in- 
fluences which your soldiers were under at the 
moment they entered Belgium, in the intoxica- 
tion of their first successes, the a priori unlikeli- 
hood of the truth will appear to you, as to us, less 
of a stumbling-block. 

Above all. Your Eminences and venerated 
Colleagues, do not allow yourselves to be kept 
back by the empty pretext that an inquiry to-day 
would be premature. 

Strictly speaking, we might say so, on our side, 
because, at the present hour the inquiry would 
take place under conditions unfavorable to us. 
Our population has been in truth so deeply ter- 
rified, the prospect of reprisals is still so threaten- 
ing, that the witnesses, whom we shall call before 
a tribunal, consisting partly of Germans, will 
hardly dare to tell the complete truth. 

But there are decisive reasons against any 
delay. 

The first, which will most directly touch your 
hearts, is that we are the weak and you are the 



S6 CARDINAL MERCIER 

Strong. You would not wish to abuse your power 
over us. 

Public opinion ordinarily is with him who first 
makes himself master of it. 

Now, while you have complete freedom to 
inundate neutral countries with your publica- 
tions, we are imprisoned and reduced to silence. 
We are hardly allowed to raise our voices inside 
our churches; the sermons in them are censored, 
that is to say, travestied by hired spies; conscien- 
tious protests are styled revolt against public 
authority; our writings are stopped on the 
frontier, like an article of contraband. You 
alone enjoy freedom of speech and of pen, and 
if you are willing, through a spirit of charity 
and justice, to procure a httle of the same free- 
dom for the accused Belgians and to give them the 
opportunity of defending themselves, it is for you 
to come to their aid at the first possible moment. 
The old legal maxim, " Audiatur et altera parSy" 
is inscribed, it is said, above many German law 
courts. In any case, with you as with us, it 
embodies the law in the proceedings of the epis- 
copal courts, and in your case, too, no doubt as 
in ours, it is current in the popular tongue, under 
this image: "He who hears only one bell, hears 
only one sound." 

Perhaps you will say: "It is past, forget it. 
Instead of throwing oil on the fire, rather turn 
your minds to forgiveness and unite your efi^orts 



AN APPEAL TO TRUTH 57 

with those of the occupying Power, which asks 
only to stanch the wounds of the unfortunate 
Belgian people." 

Your Eminences and dear Colleagues, do not 
add irony to injustice. 

Have we not suffered enough.? Have we not 
been, are we not yet, tortured cruelly enough ? 

It is past, say you; resign yourselves, forget. 

Past! But all the wounds are bleeding! There 
is not one honest heart which does not swell 
with indignation. When we hear our Govern- 
ment say in the face of the world: *'He is twice 
guilty who, after having violated the rights of 
another, still attempts, with the most audacious 
cynicism, to justify himself by imputing to his 
victim faults which he has never committed," 
our good folk stifle their curses only by force. 
Only yesterday a countryman of the neighbor- 
hood of Malines learned that his son had fallen 
on the battlefield. A priest was consoling him. 
The good man replied: "Oh! him, I give him 
to the country. But my eldest, they took him 

from me, the , and foully buried him in a 

ditch." 

How do you think that we could obtain a 
sincere word of resignation and of pardon from 
these poor creatures who have known all these 
tortures, as long as those who have made them 
suffer refuse to admit it, or to utter a word of 
regret, or a promise of reparation.? 



58 CARDINAL MERCIER 

Germany cannot now restore to us the blood 
which she has shed, the innocent Hves which her 
arms have destroyed; but it is in her power to 
restore to the Belgian people its honor, which she 
has violated or permitted to be violated. 

We ask this restitution from you — you who 
stand first among the representatives of Christian 
morality in the Church of Germany. 

There is something more profoundly sad than 
political divisions and material disasters. It is 
the hatred which injustice, real or supposed, 
stores up in so many hearts created to love one 
another. Is it not upon us, the pastors of our 
people, that the duty lies of helping to get rid 
of these bad feelings, and of reestablishing on its 
foundations of justice, to-day so shaken, the union 
in love of all the children of the great CathoHc 
family ? 

The occupying Power speaks and writes of its 
intention to stanch our wounds. 

But in the tribunal of the world intention is 
judged by action. 

Now all that we poor Belgians, who submit for 
a time to the domination of the Empire, know, 
is that the Power which has staked its honor to 
govern us according to International Law codified 
in the Hague Convention, is ignoring its engage- 
ments. We are not speaking of particular abuses 
committed against individuals or communes, 
the character of which can only be estimated by 



AN APPEAL TO TRUTH 59 

an investigation made after hearing both sides 
at the end of this war. We are considering at 
present only acts of the Government estabhshed 
by its official documents, posted up on the 
walls of our towns, and consequently involving 
directly its responsibility beyond any possible 
question. 

Now the breaches of the Hague Convention, 
since the date of the occupation of our provinces, 
are numerous and flagrant. We set them out 
here under headings and we shall provide, in an 
Annex,^ the proof of our allegations. The fol- 
lowing are the chief breaches: 

Collective punishments imposed on account of 
individual acts, contrary to Article 50 of the 
Hague Convention; 

Compulsory labor for the enemy, contrary to 
Article 52; 

New taxes, in violation of Articles 48, 49, and 

52; 
Abuse of requisitions in kind, in violation of 

Article 52; 
Disregard of the laws in force in the country, 

contrary to Article 43. 
These violations of International Law, which 
aggravate our unhappy lot and increase the 
ferments of revolt and hatred in hearts usually 
peaceable and kindly disposed, would not be 
continued if those who commit them did not feel 

^ See page 81. 



6o CARDINAL MERCIER 

that they were supported, if not by the positive 
approbation, at least by the complacent silence 
of all those who form public opinion in their own 
country. 

Again, then, we confidently appeal to your 
charity; we are the weak, you are the strong; 
come and judge whether it is still permissible for 
you to refuse your aid. 

There are, moreover, in regard to the estab- 
lishment of a commission of inquiry by members 
of the Catholic Episcopate, arguments of a general 
kind. 

We have already dwelt upon this. The spec- 
tacle which our divisions afford to the world is 
disconcerting; it is an occasion of scandal to it, 
and awakens in it blasphemous thoughts. 

Our people do not understand how you can be 
unaware of the twofold flagrant iniquity that 
has been inflicted on Belgium — the violation 
of our neutrality and the inhuman conduct of 
your soldiers — or how, knowing it, you can 
refrain from raising your voice to condemn it, 
and to dissociate yourselves from it. 

On the other hand, what ought to scandalize 
your population, Protestant and Catholic, is the 
role ascribed by your Press to the Belgian clergy, 
and to a nation over which, for the last thirty years, 
it is well known that a Catholic Government has 
ruled. "Take care," said the Bishop of Hildes- 
heim to his clergy, no later than the 21st Sep- 



AN APPEAL TO TRUTH 6 1 

tember, 1914, "these charges which the Press is 
circulating against priests, monks, and nuns of 
Catholic nations are making a rift between the 
Cathohcs and Protestants on German soil, and 
the religious future of the Empire is imperiled.^ 

The campaign of calumnies against our clergy 
and our people has not slackened. Erzberger, 
a deputy of the Center, seems to have taken 
upon himself to increase it. In Belgium itself, in 
the Cathedral of Antwerp, on the sixteenth 
Sunday after Whitsuntide, one of your priests, 
Heinrich Mohr, dared to declare from the pulpit 
of truth to the Catholic soldiers of your army: 
"Official documents have informed us how the 
Belgians have hanged German soldiers on trees, 
sprinkled them with boiling hquid, and burnt 
them alive." ^ 

^ "For in such rumors it is not only a question of the honor of 
colleagues, but also the endangering of the holy interests of the 
Catholics in Germany. These rumors, indeed, are calculated to 
undermine slowly the peaceful relations between the members of 
the different faiths, to bring about mistrust, particularly towards 
the clergy, and to cause deep vexation and confusion amongst Catho- 
lics in non-Catholic countries. For this reason it is particularly im- 
portant for the priest in non-Catholic countries to be on his guard 
against the insinuations which may be current in his parish with 
regard to the clergy." Dr. Adolf Bertram, Bishop of Hildesheim: 
Vigilance as to Insinuations as regards the Clergy. 

2 "We have read horrible things in the official reports: how the 
Belgians hanged German soldiers on the trees, and scalded them 
with hot tar and burnt them alive." A sermon on the i6th Sunday 
after Whitsuntide, by Heinrich Mohr, Chaplain to the Forces. The 
sermon has been published in the periodical, The Voice of Home, 
No. 34, Freiburg in Br. 1915. Herder. 



62 CARDINAL MERCIER 

There is only one means of stopping these 
calumnies, and that is to bring the whole truth 
to the light of day, and to condemn the true 
culprits publicly by religious authority. 

There is another source of scandal for honest 
men, believers or non-believers, in the habit of 
giving prominence to the advantages and the 
disadvantages which Catholic interests would 
derive from the success either of the Triple Alli- 
ance or of the Quadruple Entente. Professor 
Schrors, of the University of Bonn,^ was the first, 
so far as we know, to devote his leisure to these 
alluring calculations. 

The rehgious results of the war are the secret 
of God, and none of us is in the Divine confidence. 

But there is a higher question than that — the 
question of morality, of right, of honor. 

"Seek ye first," said Our Lord in the Holy 
Gospel, "the Kingdom of God and His righteous- 
ness, and all these things shall be added unto 
you." 

Do your duty, come what may! 

Also we bishops at this present moment have 
a moral duty, and therefore a religious one, which 
takes precedence of all others, that of searching 
out and proclaiming the truth. 

Did not Christ, whose disciples and ministers 
we have the glorious honor to be, say: "For this 

^ " Der Krieg und der Katholizismus," by Dr. Heinrich Schrors, 
Professor of Catholic Theology in the University of Bonn. 



AN APPEAL TO TRUTH 63 

cause came I into the world that I should bear 
witness unto the truth. ^ Ego ad hoc veni in 
mundunif ut testimonium perhiheam veritati." 

On the solemn day of our episcopal consecra- 
tion we vowed to God and the Catholic Church 
never to forsake the truth, to yield neither to 
ambition nor to fear when it should be necessary 
to show our love for it. Veritatem diligat, neque 
cam unquam deserat aut laudihus aut timore 
superatus.^ 

We have, therefore, in virtue of our vocation, 
a common role and a ground of sympathy. Con- 
fusion reigns in men's minds; what some call 
light, others designate as darkness; what is good 
to one is bad to another. We cherish the hope 
that the tribunal of impartial inquiry to which we 
have the honor of inviting your delegates will 
help to dissipate more than one uncertainty: 
Nan ponat lucem tenebras, nee tenehras lucem; 
nan dicat malum bonum, nee bonum malum. With 
all the warmth of his prayers, our Holy Father 
the Pope calls for peace; in the last letter he 
deigned to address to you at Fulda, after your 
last meeting, he urged you — he urges us all — 
to long for it with him. But he desires it only 
if it is based on respect for the rights and dignity 
of nations.^ Dum votis omnibus paeem expetimus, 

^ John xviii. 37. 

' Pontificale Romanum: de consecratione electi inepiscopum. 

3 Acta Apostolicce Sedis, Vol. VII, October 6, 1915. 



64 CARDINAL MERCIER 

atque earn quidem facem quae et justitiae sit opus 
et populorum congruat dignitati. 

We shall respond then to the desire of our com- 
mon Father by working together to cause Truth 
to shine forth and triumph, Truth on which must 
rest justice, the honor of nations, and at length 
peace. 

We are. Your Eminences and Venerated Col- 
leagues, your respectful servants and brothers in 
devotion. 

D. J. Card. Mercier, Archbishop of Malines 

Antoine, Bishop of Ghent ^ 

Gu STAVE J., Bishop of Bruges ^ 

Thomas Louis, Bishop of Namur 

Martin Hubert, Bishop of Liege 

Amedee Crooij, Bishop Designate of Tournai 

^ The Belgian Bishops unanimously decided to address a joint 
letter to the German Bishops. They have one and all knowledge 
of the scheme of the present letter and have given their adherence 
to it; but, owing to the difficulty of communicating with the Bishops 
of Ghent and Bruges, it has been impossible to submit to them this 
letter as it was finally drawn up, and obtain their signatures to it. 



Annex I 

A letter addressed hy the Lord Bishop of Liege, to 
Commandant Bayer, Governor of Liege, under 
date of August i8, 1914. 

Monsieur le Commandant, 

I address myself to you as a man and a Chris- 
tian, and entreat you to put an end to the exe- 
cutions and reprisals. I have been informed 
time after time that several villages have been 
destroyed, that persons of note, some of whom 
were priests, have been shot; that others have 
been arrested, and that all have protested their 
innocence. As for such as are priests in my dio- 
cese, I cannot believe that a single one has been 
guilty of acts of hostility towards German soldiers. 
I have visited several field-hospitals, and I have 
seen that the wounded Germans there are cared 
for with the same attention as the Belgians. They 
admit it themselves. If soldiers of the Belgian 
army, stationed at the outposts, fired on the 
Germans entering Belgium, is that a crime to be 
imputed to the civilian population? And even 
if some civilians had helped the soldiers to drive 
back German scouts, can the entire population, 
women, children, and priests, be held responsible 
for it? 

65 



66 CARDINAL MERCIER 

But I do not wish to discuss past acts; I only 
ask you, in the name of God and of humanity, 
to prevent reprisals upon unoffending popula- 
tions. These reprisals can have no useful end, 
but will drive the population to despair. I shall 
be happy to discuss this subject with you, for I 
am confident that you, like myself, wish to lessen 
the evils of war rather than to increase them. 

At the last moment I hear that the cure of R. 
has been arrested and taken to the Chartreuse. 
I do not know of what he is accused, but I do know 
that he is incapable of committing an act of hos- 
tility towards your soldiers: he is a good priest, 
gentle and charitable. I will be answerable for 
him, and I beg you to restore him to his parish. 
Tours, etc., 

{Signed) M. H. Rutten 

Bishop of Liege 

This letter received no acknowledgment, but 
the same protests were renewed, on August 21, 
to General von Kolowe, who had meanwhile be- 
come Military Governor of Liege. 

The same protests, strongly put and energeti- 
cally urged, were renewed on August 29, in an 
interview with the Governor-General of occu- 
pied Belgium, von der Goltz Pasha, then residing 
in the episcopal palace with his staflP. 

(Signed) M. H. Rutten 

Bishop of Liege 



Annex II 

This Annex contains: 

1. A letter from his Eminence Cardinal Mercier, 
Archbishop of Mahnes, to the Kreischef of the 
district of Malines, under date January 24, 191 5. 

2. A communication from His Eminence the 
Cardinal of Malines, forwarded to the General 
Government through the agency of Adjutant 
von Flemming, under date February 10, 191 5. 

3. A letter from the Lord Bishop of Namur 
to the Military Governor of Namur, under date 
April 12, 1915. 

4. A note referring to a partial inquiry made 
by an Austrian priest appointed by the Wiener 
Priester Ferein. 

5. Correspondence of the Cardinal of Malines 
with His Excellency the German Governor- 
General on the question of outrages suflFered by 
the nuns. 

I. In his pastoral letter of Christmas, 1914, 
the Cardinal of Malines pubhshed the names of 
the innocent priests who had been put to death 
by the German troops. 

Count von Wengersky, Kreischef of the District 
of Malines, wrote to the Cardinal on January 20 
as follows: 

e7 



68 CARDINAL MERCIER 

The Kreischef Tgb. No. 268/11. 

Malines, January 20th, 1915. 

To His Eminence the Cardinal Archbishop 
OF Malines, 
According to a newspaper notice several inno- 
cent priests are stated to have been put to death 
in the diocese of Mahnes. 

In order that an inquiry may be set on foot 
may I beg Your Eminence to be so good as to 
let me know whether any priests, and, if so, 
which, have been put to death, being innocent, 
in the diocese of MaHnes. 

I am very anxious to learn what circumstances 
have led up to this, which troops prove to be 
concerned, and on which days it happened. 
The Kreischef 
(Signed) Wengersky 

Colonel 
The Cardinal replied as follows to Count von 
Wengersky: 

The Palace of the Archbishop, 
Malines, January 2^th, 1915. 

M. le Kreischef, 

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of 
your letter, 268/11, dated January 20, which 
you have been so good as to address to me. 

The names of the priests and monks of the 
diocese of Malines, who, to my knowledge, were 
put to death by the German troops, are as fol- 
lows: Dupierreux, of the Company of Jesus; 
Brother Sebastien Allard, of the Society of St. 



AN APPEAL TO TRUTH 69 

Joseph; Brother Candide, of the Society of the 
Brothers of Our Lady of Pity; Father Vincent, Con- 
ventual; Carette, a professor; Lombaerts, Goris, 
de Clerck, Dergent, Wouters, Van Bladel, cures. 

At Christmas time I was not perfectly certain 
what had been the fate of the cure of Herent. 
Since then his dead body has been discovered at 
Louvain and identified. 

Other figures quoted in my pastoral letter must 
be increased to-day. Thus for Aerschot I gave the 
number of victims as 91. Now the total number 
of bodies of natives of Aerschot which have been 
exhumed had risen a few days ago to 143. But 
this is not the moment to dwell upon these par- 
ticular cases; the proper place to give an account 
of them will be at the inquiry of which you give 
me hopes. 

It will be a consolation to me to have full fight 
thrown upon the events which I was compelled 
to mention in my Pastoral Letter and on others 
of the same nature. 

But it is essential that the results of this in- 
quiry should be made plain to all upon indis- 
putable authority. 

To insure this, I have the honor to propose to 
you, M. Le Comte, and, through your kind 
intervention, to the German authorities, that the 
commission of inquiry should be composed in 
equal numbers of German representatives and 
of Belgian magistrates, chosen by our Chief 



70 CARDINAL MERCIER 

Magistrate, and presided over by a representa- 
tive of a neutral country. I venture to hope that 
his Excellency, the United States Minister, would 
not refuse to accept this chairmanship, or to 
intrust it to a representative of his own choice. 
I have the honor to be, M. le Kreischef, 
(Signed) D. J. Cardinal Mercier 

Archbishop of Malines. 
Monsieur le Comte von Wengersky, Kreischef, Malines. 

This request met with no reply. 

2. On February lo, 1915, Adjutant von 
Flemming called at the Palace of Malines, in the 
name of the Kreischef, to repeat verbally the 
questions to which the Cardinal had already 
replied in writing in his letter of January 24. 
The Cardinal informed the Adjutant that ques- 
tions of this nature must be formulated and 
answered in writing. In consequence, he drew 
up, in the following terms, the questions of the 
Kreischef and the replies which they admitted 
of, and the document was then signed by the 
Adjutant and the Cardinal of Malines. 

The Palace of the Archbishop, Malines. 

Monsieur I'Adjutant von Flemming asks me 
in the name of the General Government: 

1. Which are the communes where priests have 

been shot.? 

2. Which troops put them to death and on what 

day? 



AN APPEAL TO TRUTH 7 1 

3. Whether the Bishop of the diocese maintains 
that these priests were innocent? 

1. The names of the communes have been already 

printed in my Pastoral Letter of Christmas, 
1914, on page 65. 

2. The German Staff is in a better position than 

anyone else to know what troops were occu- 
pying a commune on any particular day. 
The populations easily recognize the German 
uniform, but do not distinguish, for the 
most part, the regiments which compose 
the army. 

3. My personal and reasoned conviction is that 

the priests whose names I have quoted were 
innocent. But, as a matter of law, it is not 
for us to establish their innocence; it is for 
the military authorities who have treated 
them with this severity to estabhsh their guilt. 
Witnesses summoned to give evidence before 
a one-sided committee will generally be afraid 
of telling the whole truth. This can only be fully 
known and universally accepted on the condi- 
tion that a mixed commission should be formed 
to collect it and to guarantee its impartiality and 
exactitude. 

Also I can only repeat for the third time my 
proposal ^ for a mixed Commission, composed 

^ The proposal was formulated a first time in writing on January 
24, and repeated verbally on February 8, by Monsignor van Roey, 
Vicar General, who had been summoned to the Commandatur at 
Malines. 



72 CARDINAL MERCIER 

partly of German magistrates and partly of Bel- 
gian magistrates, whose work it would be to throw 
full light on those facts, concerning which the 
General Government most properly desires to 
institute an inquiry. In order to give all de- 
sirable authority to the results of the inquiry, 
it is of importance that the tribunal should be 
presided over by a representative of a neutral 
State. 

Given at Malines, February lo, 191 5. 

(Signed) D. J. Cardinal Mercier 

Archbishop of Malines 
(Signed) Von Flemming 
Rittmeister und Adjutant des Kreischefs in Mecheln 

This letter remained without reply. 

3. On the occasion of the publication of a con- 
fidential letter from the Prussian Minister of 
War to the High Chancellor, the Lord Bishop of 
Namur published a reply to that document on 
April 12, 191 5. 

But the MiHtary Governor of Namur disputed 
the assertions contained in the bishop's reply, 
without, however, entering into any particulars. 

The latter maintained his statements, and 
added: "In consideration of the difference of 
views which separates us, there is only one way 
of bringing the facts to the light and before the 
eyes of everyone, namely, to intrust their ex- 
amination to the commission of inquiry which 



AN APPEAL TO TRUTH 73 

I have proposed. I am confident that Your 
Excellency will agree with this, and will recom- 
mend the suggestion to the Governor-General." 
(Signed) T. L., Bishop of Namur 
The proposal of the Lord Bishop of Namur 
received no reply. 

4. A priest accredited by His Eminence Car- 
dinal Piffl, Prince Archbishop of Vienna, made 
an inquiry in Belgium in the name of the Wiener 
Priester Verein. The results of this incomplete 
inquiry were published in the Tijd, of Amster- 
dam, and in the Politiken, of Copenhagen. They 
are overwhelmingly against the German military 
authorities. But, if we are correctly informed, 
the German and Austrian newspapers abstained 
from bringing them to the knowledge of their 
readers. 

5. Before closing this Annex relating to the 
inquiries, we have to correct a mistake. 

In their reply to the French Catholics, the 
German Catholics speak of the outrages upon 
the nuns, and write: "The German Governor- 
General in Belgium has addressed the Belgian 
bishops on this subject. . . . The Archbishop 
of Malines has allowed it to be known that he 
could furnish no exact information as to any 
case whatever of the outrages upon nuns in his 
diocese." 

This last phrase is, in substance, correct, but 



74 CARDINAL MERCIER 

gives a wrong impression to the casual reader. 
What I wrote to the Governor-General was, 
that I could furnish him with no exact information, 
because my conscience forbade me to hand over 
to a tribunal of any kind the information (alas! 
very precise) in my possession. Outrages have 
been committed upon nuns. I think they are, 
fortunately, not numerous, but to my knowledge 
there have been several. Since the Governor- 
General has thought himself entitled to give the 
public an extract from the reply I had the honor 
of addressing to him on this delicate subject, it is 
my duty to reproduce here the entire text of our 
correspondence. 

The following is the letter of March 30, 191 5, 
written to me by the Governor-General: 

The Governor-General of Belgium. 

Brussels, March $otb, 1915. 

Your Eminence, 

A serious reproach has of late been repeatedly 
made in the foreign press, together with a num- 
ber of other charges, which for the most part 
have already been proved incorrect, that German 
soldiers on the march through Belgium did not 
hesitate to assault Belgian nuns. 

It is superfluous to point out, as to this, that 
such misdeeds (in case they should prove true) 
would certainly incur my own and the German 
Government's severest reprobation. At the same 



AN APPEAL TO TRUTH 75 

time justice demands that accusations proved to 
be untrue should be duly repudiated. I assume 
that the disclosure of the full truth corresponds 
with the sense of justice as well as with the 
interests of the Catholic Church. 

I think, therefore, that I may rely upon Your 
Eminence's cordial support when I beg you to 
help me in my efforts to discover the true facts. 

The information which Your Eminence may 

desire to bring forward as to the violation of nuns 

in the said diocese will enable me to take the 

further steps necessary under the circumstances. 

I have the honor to be 

Your Eminence's most obedient, 

(Signed) Fhr. Von Bissing 
To His Eminence, The Lord Archbishop of Malines. 

This is our reply: 

The Palace of the Archbishop 
Malines, Jpril i6th, 1915. 

Monsieur le Gouverneur General, 

I have received the letter No. 1243 which your 
Excellency has done me the honor of addressing 
me, and I regret having been hindered from reply- 
ing to it earlier. 

There are in fact rumors in circulation, accepted 
by certain papers, denied by others, on the ques- 
tion of the outrages which the Belgian nuns have 
had to suffer from German soldiers, and, in agree- 
ment with Your Excellency, I protest against 



76 CARDINAL MERCIER 

those who, Hghtly and without proof, pubhcly 
announce or support such odious accusations. 

But, when Your Excellency asks me to help you 
in throwing light upon whether these imputations 
are well or ill founded, I am obliged to ask you 
a preliminary question. 

Has the civil authority the right to hold an 
inquiry upon facts of so delicate a nature.? 

Whom would it question .? 

The confessor.? The doctor.? They are bound 
by professional secrecy. 

The Sisters Superior.? Do they always know 
the truth ? And if they do know it, having learned 
it under the seal of secrecy, have they the right 
to speak.? 

Who would venture to question the victims.? 
Would not that be cruel.? Who would attempt 
to question witnesses at the risk of exposing 
the already wretched victims of violence to the 
burden of carrying the stain of dishonor in the 
face of public opinion.? 

So far as I am concerned, I should not dare 
to subject anyone to an examination upon so 
delicate a subject, and my conscience forbids me 
to hand over to another the confidences which 
have been made to me, or might be made to me, 
spontaneously on this matter. 

Our duty. Your Excellency, is to discourage 
the public, by all means in our power, from giving 
countenance to these capricious and unwhole- 



AN APPEAL TO TRUTH 'J^ 

some allegations. I shall heartily approve of 
repression by law of those who, either from 
prejudice or from unpardonable levity, invent 
or spread them. But I consider that we cannot 
go further without trespassing upon the rights of 
conscience and exposing ourselves to the risk of 
violating its hberty. 

Accept, Monsieur le Gouverneur General, the 
assurance of my very high regard. 

(Signed) D. J. Card. Mercier 

Archbishop of Malines 

To His Excellency, 

Baron von Bissing, Governor-General, Brussels. 



Annex III 

We know, and we affirm, that the German 
army gave itself up in Belgium, in a hundred 
different places, to pillage, to incendiarism, im- 
prisonments, massacres, and sacrileges, contrary 
to all justice and to every sentiment of humanity. 

There are parts of Hainault and of the two 
Flanders, which are still to-day under special 
military control, whose disasters are consequently 
less well known to us. But below is an approxi- 
mate list of localities which our protest covers. 

I. Diocese of Namur. Provinces of Namur 
and of Luxembourg. 

Tamines, Surice, Spontin, Namur, Ethe, Gom- 
ery, Latour, Aische-en-Refail, Alle, Arsimont, 
Auvelais, Bonnines, Bourseigne-Neuve, Bouge, 
Daussois, Dourbes, Ermeton-sur-Biert, Evre- 
hailles, Felenne, Fosses, Franchimont, Franc- 
Waret, Frasne, Gedinne, Gelbressee, Hansinelle, 
Hanzinne, Hautbois, Hastiere, Hermeton-sur- 
Meuse, Hingeon, Houdremont, Jemeppe-sur- 
Sambre, Lisogne, Louette-Saint-Pierre, Mariem- 
bourg, Mettet, Monceau, Morville, Onhaye, Oret, 
Petigny, Romedenne, Somme-Leuze, Somzee, 
Stave, Temploux, Villers-en-Fagne, Wartet, 
Waulsort, Willerse, Yvoir, Anloy, Assenois, Ba- 
ranzy, Bertrix, Briscol, Etalle, Framont, Frene- 

78 



AN APPEAL TO TRUTH 79 

Opont, Freylange, Glaumont, Glaireuse, Hamipre, 
Herbeumont, Izel, Jehonville, Maissin, Manhay, 
Musson, Mussy-la-Ville, Neufchateau, Pin, Saint- 
Leger, etc., etc. 

Thibessart, Biesme, Porcheresse, Graide, 
Nothomb, Rulles, RosIere-la-Grande, Bovigny, 
Gouvy, Champion, Jamoigne, Silenrieux, Les 
Bulles, Tintigny, Ansart, Rossignol, Sorinne, 
Bievre, Beheme, Leglise, LanefFe, Frenois, Villers- 
devant-Orval, Couvin, Houdemont, Chiny, 
Anthee, Ychippe, Conneux, Aye, Evelette, 
Florenville, Hollogne, Le Boux, Leuze, Marche, 
Sainte-Marie, Saint- Vincent. 

Andenne, Dinant. 

2. Diocese of Liege. Provinces of Liege and 
of Limhourg. 

Battice, Herv, Bise, Mouland, Hermee, Hallem- 
baye, Louvegne, Lince, Poulseur, Soumagne, 
Fecher, Melin, Julemont, Barchon, Lummen, 
Haelen, — , Lanaeken. 

3. Diocese OF Malines. Provinces of Brabant 
and of Antwerp. 

Haekendover, Autgaerden, Grimde, Hougaerde, 
Cumptich, Hautem-Sainte-Marguerite, Vissen- 
aeken, Bunsbeek, Lubbeek-Saint-Bernard, Wever, 
Attenrode, Cappellen (Glabbeek), Cortryck- 
Dutzel, Glabbeek, Pellenberg, Neer-Linter, 
Budingen, Heelen-bosch, Orsmael-Gussenhoven, 
Corbeek-Loo, Lovenjoul, Roosbeek, SchafFen, 
Molenstede, Wersbeek, Aerschot, Rillaer, Gelrode, 



8o CARDINAL MERCIER 

Wesemael, Hersselt, Rethy, Haecht, Rotselaer, 
Wackerzeel, Werchter, Tremeloo, Thildonck, 
Wespelaer, Boortmeerbeek, Rymenam, Hever, 
Louvain, Heverle, Herent, Berg, Campenhout, 
Bueken, Neder-Ockerzeel, Cortenberg, Delle, 
Boisschot, Goor, Heyst-op-den Berg, Beersel, 
Putte, Schrieck, Malines, Bonheyden, Wavre- 
Notre-Dame, Wavre-Sainte-Catherlne, Waelhem, 
Leest, Hombeek, Sempst, Laer, Hofstade, Muysen, 
Schiplaeken, Konings-Hoyckt, Kessel, Lierre, 
DufFel, Blaesveld, Perck, Peuthy, Hautem, 
Elewyt, Weerde, Eppeghem, Pont-Brule, Grim- 
berghen, Londerzeel, Meysse, Humbeek, Nieuwen- 
rode, Beyghem, Wolverthem, Cappelle-au-Bois, 
Linsmeau, Wavre, Mousty. 

4. Diocese of Ghent. Eastern Flanders. 
Saint-Gilles, Lebbeke, Termonde. 

5. Diocese of Tournai. Province of Hainault 
Peronne. 



Annex IV 

INFRACTIONS OF THE HAGUE CONVENTION 

Germany signed the Hague Convention. The 
first German Governor-General, Baron von der 
Goltz, referred to the Hague Convention in an 
order pubHshed by him as early as November 12, 
1914. 

The second German Governor-General, Baron 
von Bissing, in a solemn proclamation of July 18, 
191 5, declared his wish to administer Belgium ac- 
cording to the Hague Convention, regulating the 
laws and customs of war on land. . . . He added : 
"His Majesty, the German Emperor, after the 
occupation of the Kingdom of Belgium by our 
victorious troops, has intrusted to me the ad- 
ministration of this country, and has ordered me 
to carry out the obligations arising from the Hague 
Convention.'^ 

That is the legal aspect. 

The following is the fact: 

I. Collective Punishments 
Article 50 of the Convention stipulates, "No 
collective penalty, pecuniary or otherwise, shall 
be enacted against populations on account of 
individual acts for which they could not be 
considered as jointly responsible." 

81 



82 CARDINAL MERCIER 

Now the history of the occupation covers three 
periods: that of the invasion and those over 
which Baron von der Goltz and Baron von Bissing 
presided successively. 

During the -period of the invasion collective pun- 
ishment was systematically inflicted and under 
every form. Proofs of this assertion abound. 
Here is one which suffices in itself: — As the in- 
vasion gained ground the Commander-in-Chief 
of the army caused to be posted up a proclama- 
tion in three languages, on red paper, in which 
he said: 

The villages where acts of hostility shall be 
committed by the inhabitants against our troops 
will be burned. 

For all destruction of roads, railways, bridges, 
etc., the villages in the neighborhood of the destruc- 
tion will be held responsible. 

The punishments announced above will be 
carried out severely and without mercy. The 
whole community will be held responsible. Hostages 
will be taken freely. The heaviest war taxes 
will be levied. 

Under the government of Marshal von der Goltz 
a. proclamation, signed by the hand of the Gov- 
ernor-General and promulgated on September 2, 
1914, in the occupied territory, expressly stated: 
"It is the hard necessity of war that the punish- 



AN APPEAL TO TRUTH 83 

ment of hostile acts includes the innocent as well 
as the guilty.'' 

Consequently collective punishment was applied 
unsparingly. 

Thus, as a typical example, the city of Brus- 
sels was condemned to pay a fine of five millions, 
because one of its policemen, unknown to 
the communal administration, had been want- 
ing in deference to a functionary of the German 
civil administration. 

A notice signed Baron von der Goltz, posted up 
on October 7, 1914, applies the collective penalty 
to the family. It is there stated: "The Belgian 
Government have sent orders to rejoin the army 
to the militiamen of several classes. . . . All 
those who receive these orders are strictly for- 
bidden to act upon them. . . . In case of dis- 
obedience the family of the militiamen will be held 
equally responsible." 

Under the government of General Baron von Bis- 
sing, that is from December 3, 1914, the col- 
lective punishments, in violation of Article 50, 
have been continual. Here are some specimens. 
On December 23, 1914, a notice posted in Brus- 
sels stated: "If the graves of fallen soldiers are 
damaged or violated, not only will the perpetrator 
be punished, but the commune will also be made 
responsible." 

A warning of the Governor-General, dated 



84 CARDINAL MERCIER 

January 26, 191 5, renders the members of the 
family responsible if a Belgian fit for military- 
service, between the ages of 16 and 40, goes to 
Holland. 

In fact, upon the flimsiest pretexts, heavy- 
fines are inflicted on communes. The commune 
of Puers was subjected to a fine of 3000 marks 
because a telegraph wire was broken, although 
the inquiry showed that it had given way through 
wear. 

Malines, a working-class town, without re- 
sources, has had a fine of 20,000 marks inflicted 
on it because the Burgomaster did not inform 
the military authority of a journey which the 
Cardinal, deprived of the use of his motor-car, 
had been obliged to make on foot. 

2. Compulsory Labor for the Enemy 

According to Article 52 of the Hague Conven- 
tion, ''requisitions in kind and service" can be 
claimed from communities or from inhabitants 
only on three conditions: 

On condition that they do not place on the 
population any obligation to take part in the 
operations of war against the nation. 

On condition that they are claimed only with 
a view to the needs of the army of occupation. 

On condition that they are in proportion to 
the resources of those from whom they are 
demanded. 



AN APPEAL TO TRUTH 85 

It is Striking to observe that Article 23 con- 
tains a final note proposed at the second Hague 
Congress, in 1907, by the German delegation. 
It is as follows: "A belligerent is forbidden to 
force the subjects of an enemy country to take 
part in operations of war directed against their 
country." 

But — 

I. At the time of the invasion, Belgian civilians, 
in twenty places, were made to take part in 
operations of war against their own country. 
At Termonde, Lebbeke, Dinant, and elsewhere 
in many places, peaceable citizens, women, and 
children were forced to march in front of German 
regiments or to make a screen before them. 

At Liege and at Namur civilians were obliged 
to dig trenches and were employed on works of 
repairs at fortifications. 

The system of hostages was carried out with 
a fierce cruelty. The proclamation of August 4, 
quoted above, declared, without circumlocution: 
"Hostages will be freely taken." 

An official proclamation, posted at Liege, in 
the early days of August, ran thus: "Every 
aggression committed against the German troops 
by any persons other than soldiers in uniform, 
not only exposes the guilty person to be imme- 
diately shot, hut will also entail the severest reprisals 
against all the inhabitants and especially against 
those natives of Liege who have been detained as 



86 CARDINAL MERCIER 

hostages in the citadel of Liege by the Commandant 
of the German troops." 

These hostages are Monsignor Rutten, Bishop 
of Liege, M. Kleyer, burgomaster of Liege, the 
senators, representatives, and the permanent 
deputy and sheriff of Liege. 

2. Under the government of Field-Marshal von 
der Goltz the requisitions for personal service in 
force in the month of August were continued 
under every form — digging trenches, work on 
the fortifications, carting, work on the roads, 
bridges, railways, etc. 

An order of the Governor-General, pubhshed 
on November 19, declared: "Whosoever at- 
tempts to prevent by force, threat, persuasion^ 
or other means, any persons disposed to carry 
out any work for purposes required by the Ger- 
man authorities from so carrying out this work, 
or obstructs any contractors intrusted by such 
authorities with the execution of this work, will 
be punished with imprisonment." The order does 
not fix the term of this imprisonment; it is a 
purely arbitrary measure. As to the treatment 
of hostages, severest measures were enacted. 

A monstrous specimen of arbitrariness and 
cruelty is the proclamation posted in the com- 
munes of Beyne-Heusay, Grivegnee, Bois- 
de-Breux, by the Major in command, Dieck- 
mann, on September 8, 1914. Here follows an 
extract: 



AN APPEAL TO TRUTH 87 

"Beginning with September 7 I shall permit 
persons from the undermentioned communes to 
return to their homes. To make sure that this 
permission will not be abused, the Burgomasters 
of Beyne-Heusay and of Grivegnee must at once 
prepare lists of persons who will be retained as 
hostages at the fort of Fleron. 

^' The lives of these hostages depend upon the 
inhabitants of the previously named communes 
comporting themselves peaceably under all cir- 
cumstances. 

"I shall designate the persons to be detained 
as hostages from midday on one day until the 
next midday. If the substitute has not appeared 
in due time, the hostage remains another 24 hours 
at the Fort. After this second 24 hours, the 
hostage runs the risk of death if the person con- 
cerned fails to appear. The priests and burgo- 
masters and other members of the council are the 
first to be taken as hostages.'' 

3. Under the government of Baron von Bissing 
the violations of Article 52 were flagrant. The 
deeds which took place in the railway workshops 
at Luttre and Malines, as well as in several 
communes in Western Flanders, are revolting. 

Judge of them: 

On March 23, 1915, at the arsenal at Luttre, 
the German authority posted a notice demanding 
return to work. On April 21, 200 workmen were 
called for. On April 27 soldiers went to fetch 



88 CARDINAL MERCIER 

the workmen from their homes and take them to 
the arsenal. In the absence of a workman a 
member of the family was arrested. 

However, the men maintained their refusal to 
work, "because they were unwilling to cooperate 
in acts of war against their country." 

On April 30 the requisitioned workmen were 
not released, but shut up in the railway carriages. 

On May 4, 24 workmen detained in prison 
at Nivelles were tried at Mons, by a court-martial, 
"on the charge of being members of a secret 
society, having for its aim to thwart the carrying 
out of German military measures." They were 
condemned to imprisonment. 

On May 8, 191 5, 48 workmen were shut up 
in a goods wagon and taken to Germany. 

On May 14, 45 men were deported to 
Germany. 

On May 18 a fresh proclamation announced 
that the prisoners "would receive only dry bread 
and water, and hot food only every four days." 

On May 22 three wagons with 104 workmen 
were sent towards Charleroi. 

In spite of all, the patriotic dignity of the work- 
men got the better of the pressure exerted on 
them. 

A similar course was adopted at Malines, 
where, by various methods of intimidation, the 
German authorities attempted to force the workers 
at the arsenal to work on material for the rail- 



AN APPEAL TO TRUTH 89 

ways, as if it were not plain that this material 
would become war material sooner or later. 

On May 30, 1915, the Governor-General 
announced that he "would be obliged to punish 
the town of Malines and its suburbs, by stopping 
all commercial traffic if by 10 a.m. on Wednesday, 
June 2, 500 workmen had not presented them- 
selves for work at the arsenal." 

On Wednesday, June 2, not a single man 
appeared. Accordingly, a complete stoppage 
took place of every vehicle within a radius of 
several kilometers of the town. 

It was at this time that the Cardinal's journey 
on foot was made from Malines to Eppeghem, a 
journey which cost the town of Malines a fine of 
20,000 marks. 

Several workmen were taken by force and kept 
two or three days at the arsenal. 

The suspension of traffic lasted ten days. 

The commune of Sweveghem (Western Flanders) 
was punished in June, 191 5, because the 350 
workmen at the private factory of M. Bekaert 
refused to make barbed wire for the German 
army. 

The following notice was placarded at Menin 
in July-August, 191 5: 

By order: From to-day the town will no longer 
afford aid of any description — including assist- 
ance to their families, wives, and children — to 
any operatives except those who work regularly 



90 CARDINAL MERCIER 

at military zvork, and other tasks assigned to them. 
All other operatives and their families "can 
henceforward not be helped in any fashion." 

Can anything be more odious? 

Similar measures were taken in October, 1914, 
at Harlebeke-lez-Courtrai, Bisseghem, Lokeren, 
and Mons. From Harlebeke 29 inhabitants were 
transported to Germany. At Mons, in M. Lenoir's 
factory, the directors, foremen, and 81 workmen 
were imprisoned for having refused to work in 
the service of the German army. M. Lenoir 
was sentenced to five years' imprisonment, the 
five directors to a year each, six foremen to six 
months, and the eighty-one workmen to eight 
weeks. 

The General Government had recourse also to 
indirect methods of compulsion. It seized the 
Belgian Red Cross, confiscated its property, and 
changed its purpose arbitrarily. It attempted to 
make itself master of the public charities and to 
control the National Aid and Food Committee. 

If we were to cite in extenso the decree of the 
Governor-General of August 4, 191 5, concerning 
measures intended to assure the carrying out of 
works of public usefulness^ and that of August 15, 
191 5, '^ concerning the unemployed, who, through 
idleness, refrain from work,' it would be seen 
by what tortuous means the occupying Power at- 
tempts to attack at once the masters and the men. 

But it is in the area of military operations that 



AN APPEAL TO TRUTH 9I 

contempt, of the Hague Convention has been 
pushed to an extreme. 

On October 12, 191 5, the OjfiBcial Bulletin of 
Orders for the district under military operations 
pubHshed an order containing the following 
striking passages: 

"Article i. Whoever, without reason, refuses 
to undertake or to continue work suitable to his 
occupation, and in the execution of which the 
military administration is interested^ such work 
being ordered by one or more of the military 
commanders, will be Hable to imprisonment not 
exceeding one year. He may also be transported 
to Germany. 

^Invoking Belgian laws or even international con- 
ventions to the contrary, can, in no case, justify 
the refusal to work. 

"On the subject of the lawfulness of the work 
exacted, the military commandant has the sole right 
of forming a decision. 

" Article 2. Any person who by force, threats, 
persuasion, or other means attempts to influence 
another to refuse work as pointed out in Article i, 
is liable to the punishment of imprisonment not 
exceeding five years. 

"Article 3. Whoever knowingly hy means of aid 
given or in any other way abets a punishable 
refusal to work, shall be Hable to a maximum 
fine of 10,000 marks, and, in addition, may be 
condemned to a year's imprisonment. 



92 CARDINAL MERCIER 

"If communes or associations have rendered 
themselves guilty of such an offense, the heads of 
the communes will be punished. 

"Article 4. In addition to the penalties stated 
in Articles i and 3, the German authorities may, 
in case of need, impose on communes, where, 
without reason, work has been refused, a fine or 
other coercive police measures. 

"This present decree comes into force imme- 
diately." 

Der Etappeinspekteur, 

Von Unger, 

Generalleutnant 

Ghent, October 12, 1915. 

The injustice and arbitrariness of this decree 
exceed all that could be imagined. Forced labor, 
collective penalties, and arbitrary punishments, — 
all are there. It is slavery, neither more nor less. 

3. New Taxes 

We will content ourselves with pointing out, 
in a few words, two taxes contrary to Articles 48, 
49, 51, and 52 of the Hague Convention. 

The first was levied by a decree of Governor- 
General Baron von Bissing, on January 16, 
191 5. It consists in imposing on absentees an 
additional extraordinary tax fixed at ten times 
the amount of the personal tax. This tax comes 
into no category of existing taxes. It strikes only 



AN APPEAL TO TRUTH 93 

at one class of citizens who have legitimately 
used their right of changing their place of resi- 
dence before the occupation of the country. 
It is, then, contrary to Articles 48 and 51 of the 
Convention. 

The second violation of the Convention is the 
famous contribution of 480 millions imposed on 
the nine provinces, December 10, 1914. 

The essential condition of the legality of a 
contribution of this kind, according to the Hague 
Convention, is that it should bear relation to the 
resources of the country — Article 52. 

Now, in December, 1914, Belgium was devas- 
tated. Contributions of war imposed on the 
towns and innumerable requisitions in kind had 
exhausted her. The greater part of the factories 
were idle, and in those which were still at work 
raw materials were, contrary to all law, being 
freely commandeered. 

It was on this impoverished Belgium, living on 
foreign charity, that a contribution of nearly 
500,000,000 frs. was imposed. 

The decree of December 10, 1914, ran: "A 
contribution of war is imposed upon the Belgian 
people, amounting to forty million francs, to be 
paid monthly for the period of one year,'' This 
"period of one year" has now passed. 

But, as we write these lines, the occupying Power 
proposes to replace "the period of one year," by 
"the whole duration of the war"! 



94 CARDINAL MERCIER 

Poor little Belgium! What has she done to 
rich and powerful Germany, her neighbor, to be 
so trodden under foot, tortured, calumniated, 
exploited, and ground down by her? 

If we had to furnish a complete statement of 
the decrees and acts by which, to our knowledge, 
the occupying Power has contravened the Hague 
Convention we should have to quote again the 
abuse of requisitions in kind contrary to Article 52; 
the seizure of funds belonging to private companies; 
the requisition of railway lines for hundreds of 
kilometers; the seizure of arms, deposited, by 
order of the Belgian Government, in the town 
halls — an abuse of Article 53; the total disregard, 
especially in the matter of the penal law, of the 
laws in force in the country, contrary to Article 43. 

But we cannot say all here, nor quote all. 

If, however, our readers wish for the proof of 
the accusations merely indicated in this final 
paragraph, we shall be glad to furnish them. There 
is not in our letter, nor in the four annexes, one 
allegation of which we have not the proof in our 
records. 



Ill 

MT RETURN FROM ROME 



Ill 

MT RETURN FROM ROME 
feast of st. thomas aq.uinas 

Dearly Beloved Brethren, 

IT would be impossible to express the joy I 
feel at being once more among you. Mis- 
fortune has brought us closer to each other. Like 
the early Christians, who, living under the men- 
ace of perpetual danger, were, as the Holy Scrip- 
tures tell us, "of one heart and of one soul: 
Credentium erat cor unum et anima una,"^ — 
the Belgians have gathered round their Pastors; 
these Pastors have felt the responsibilities and 
the ardors of paternity growing and expanding 
within them; and to-day, both in invaded Bel- 
gium and in foreign lands, the sons of our soil, 
obeying a common impulse, ask us, more ur- 
gently than ever, to be their interpreters with 
God, to tell them what divine Providence de- 
mands from them and allows them to hope for. 
"The High Priest," says the Apostle Paul, 
"taken from among men, is ordained for men in 
things pertaining to God. Pontifex, ex homini- 

^ Jets iv. 32. 
97 



98 CARDINAL MERCIER 

bus assumptus, pro hominihus constituitur in Us, 
quae sunt ad Deum^ ^ 

I am well aware how fervently and how de- 
voutly you prayed for us during our journey. 
Your petitions have been granted. My first 
act on my return from Rome was to go into our 
dear Cathedral, to address a heartfelt Te Deum 
to the Lord, and to offer an act of ardent grati- 
tude to our Blessed Mother, "the Cause of our 
Joy — Causa nostrae laetitiae," as also the "Virgin 
of pain and tears — Dolorosa et lacrymabilis Virgo 
Maria." Our Lord, indeed, has blessed our 
journey beyond anything that we dared to hope 
for. 

There are many things I cannot tell you. You 
will understand me. The abnormal conditions, 
to which we have to submit, forbid us to lay 
bare to you all the best and most intimate 
things we hold in our soul for you; things which, 
coming from a higher source and touching you 
more nearly, are my most steadfast support, and 
would be, if I could repeat them to you, your 
strongest consolation; but you will not doubt 
my word; you will believe me when I assure you 
that my journey was specially blessed, and that I 
return to you happy, very happy. 

Our Holy Father showed me the most touch- 
ing kindness. As soon as I arrived, he deigned 
to fold me in his arms; he invited me to come 

^ Hebrews v. i. 



MY RETURN FROM ROME 99 

and see him as often as possible; he allowed me 
to tell him everything, to confide in him fully, 
to think aloud before him. During the many 
hours I had the consolation of spending in his 
august presence, he comforted, illuminated, and 
encouraged me paternally. He understands and 
shares our anxieties concerning our religious 
liberties and our patriotic feelings. He was 
good enough to sum up his profound thought 
on your behalf, which I received most eagerly, 
in the inscription traced by his own august hand 
beneath his portrait; I here transcribe it for you 
in all simplicity: 

" To our revered hr other , Cardinal Mercier, Arch- 
bishop of Mechlin^ We give the Apostolic Blessing 
with all our heart, assuring him that We are always 
with him, and that We share his grief and his 
anguish, inasmuch as his cause is our causeJ'^ 

One day I went, with my heart full of grati- 
tude, to tell the Sovereign Pontiff that he could 
never doubt the perfect filial piety of the Belgian 
people, and that we had conceived a desire to 
give him a fresh evidence of this in the near 
future. "Most Holy Father," I said, "we would 
like to ask our faithful congregations, through- 
out the country, to take part on the first Sunday 
in May in a general communion on behalf of 
your Holiness." 

''And my behalf," replied the Holy Father im- 
mediately, ''is that of Belgium." 



lOO CARDINAL MERCIER 

Encouraged by this reception of my plan, I 
wrote to the Cardinals of Paris, London, Armagh 
in Ireland, and Italy, and I am confident that 
on the first Sunday in May a common Eucharistic 
prayer will go up to Heaven from all the coun- 
tries of our Allies; presented to God by the 
august hands of the Head of the Catholic Church, 
this prayer will hasten the glorious restoration of 
our beloved Belgium. On that day the Holy 
Father gives all parish priests throughout the 
country power to bestow the Papal benediction 
on their flock, with plenary indulgence for the 
souls of soldiers who have fallen on the field of 
honor. 

You have already, I believe, heard echoes of 
the acclamations with which the name of Bel- 
gium was greeted throughout our journey to 
Switzerland and Italy, and on our way back. 

Even supposing, my beloved brethren, that 
the final issue of the gigantic duel at present 
being fought in Europe and Asia Minor is un- 
certain, the moral triumph of Belgium is an ever 
memorable fact for history and civiHzation. 
In concert with your King and your Govern- 
ment, you agreed to an immense sacrifice in the 
interests of your fatherland. Out of respect 
for our plighted word; to proclaim that in your 
consciences, right comes before all else, you have 
sacrificed your good, your homes, your sons, your 
husbands; and after eighteen months of coercion, 



MY RETURN FROM ROME lOI 

you are still proud of your deed, as on the first 
day. Heroism seems so natural to you that it 
does not occur to you to glory in it on your own 
account; but if you had been able to do as we 
have done, to pass beyond our frontiers, and 
look at our Belgian fatherland from without; 
if you could have heard the voices of the people, 
"the man in the street," as the English say, I 
mean the manual laborer, the humble employe, 
the women of the working classes; if you had 
received the homage, written or spoken, of 
those who are the authorized representatives of 
the great social forces, politics, the press, science, 
art, diplomacy, and religion; you would have 
realized more fully the magnanimity of your 
attitude, and your souls would have leaped with 
joy and, even, I think, with pride. 

The most fervid expressions of respect, of 
admiration, of reverence for the moral greatness, 
the nobility of soul, the calm tenacious patience 
of the Belgian nation reached us from the cities 
and villages of Switzerland, Italy, Spain, France, 
and England, and went up, borne by enthusiasm, 
to those who personify Belgian patriotism, our 
Sovereigns, the Government, the Clergy, our 
valiant army. 

As to us, all the homage we received we re- 
ferred to you, for a secret instinct always reminded 
us that it was you who deserved it and attracted 
it by your endurance. 



102 CARDINAL MERCIER 

In our hours of meditation we blessed Provi- 
dence for the progress it has brought about in 
public opinion. 

You will remember how, some fifteen months 
ago, we told you: Certain highly placed men, 
who ought to have taken a loftier view of events, 
sometimes went so far as to say: But after all, 
was it necessary for Belgium to sacrifice herself 
thus in defense of her territory? Would not a 
verbal protest have sufficed, and would this not 
have saved her from the ravages that have brought 
her to the verge of ruin? This language, I told 
you, had roused my indignation, and more than 
once I had given free utterance to that indigna- 
tion under the stimulus of internal revolt. 

Well ! I never hear this language on any lips now. 

Therefore the moral level of neutral, or for- 
merly neutral nations, is higher. They understand 
the spirit of sacrifice, they do homage to it, they 
appreciate it in you, they admire you. Your gen- 
eration has made a glorious entrance into history. 

Is not this a conquest, my Brethren, and, in 
the sense in which moral advantage is more 
highly esteemed than material advantage, are 
you not the most glorious conquerors? 

I cannot refrain from applying to our present 
situation the words of our Lord in the Gospel: 
"What shall a man be profited, if he shall gain 
the whole world, and lose his own soul?" ^ 

^ Matthew xvi. 26. 



MY RETURN FROM ROME IO3 

Oh, yes! you weep, I know; there is mourn- 
ing on every hand; the hearts of mothers, wives, 
and betrothed maidens are wrung; lives are lost 
on the banks of the Yser; the captivity of the 
nation on its own soil is painfully prolonged; 
our finances are involved, our trade and our 
manufactures are at a standstill; I know all this, 
and you know me well enough, I think, to rest 
assured that I suffer because of them with you, 
and because you are suffering. But, after all, 
what are these sufferings of a day in face of the 
eternity in which we shall all sooner or later 
live our true lives? What, finally, is the value 
of an earthly success which we should have to 
buy at the price of our eternal happiness? What, 
on the other hand, is a momentary sorrow, an 
ephemeral desolation, a, humanly speaking, pre- 
mature death, when we have the provision of 
an endless and unclouded happiness for those 
Christian families who, having lived together as 
Christians here below, and having nerved them- 
selves with Christian courage to self-sacrifice, will 
soon be reunited forever in the bosom of our 
Father which is in Heaven? 

One day when I was making my way towards 
the Church of St. Paul-without-the-Walls, ac- 
complishing on your behalf the pilgrimage I 
had promised you before my departure that I 
would undertake, I visited the basilica of St. 
Sebastian, and found it full of fragments, due 



104 CARDINAL MERCIER 

to the excavations there in progress. The archae- 
ologists who were directing the work had brought 
various inscriptions to Hght. One of these struck 
me particularly, and I brought it away in my 
memory for you. It said: '' Et nos in Deo omnes. 
— And as to us, let us all hold together in God" 

Let us take this as the motto of our hopes; 
let it perfectly sustain our courage. " Et nos in 
Deo omnes. All together in God." 

The day will come when we shall weep no 
more, when we shall no longer be scattered, when 
our families will be reunited never to be parted 
again. Let us think more of Heaven than of 
earth. Let us live there in spirit; as St. Paul 
said to the PhiHppians: "For our conversation 
is in Heaven: Nostra autem conversatio in coelis 
est." 1 

The Christian is a traveler, whose home is in 
Heaven. 

You must remember that I have never con- 
cealed my forebodings from you. I have preached 
patriotism to you, because it is an offshoot of 
the greatest of Christian virtues. Charity. But 
from the first I warned you, that in my humble 
opinion, our trial would be a long one, and that 
success would be the guerdon of the nations who 
could endure most bravely. 

My conviction, both natural and supernatural, 
of our ultimate victory is more firmly rooted in 

^ PhiHppians iii. 20. 



MY RETURN FROM ROME T05 

my soul than ever. If, indeed, it could have been 
shaken, the assurances given me by several dis- 
interested and careful observers of the general 
situation, notably those belonging to the two 
Americas, would have sufficed to consolidate it. 

We shall triumph, do not doubt it, but we are 
not yet at the end of our sufferings. 

France, England, and Russia have engaged not 
to conclude peace until the independence of 
Belgium is completely restored and an ample 
indemnity has been made to her. Italy, in her 
turn, has given her adhesion to the London 
compact. 

Our future is not doubtful. 

But we must prepare it. 

We shall prepare it by cultivating the virtue 
of patience and the spirit of self-sacrifice. "Be 
of good courage," says the Psalmist, "and He 
shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in 
the Lord. Firiliter agite, et confortetur cor ves- 
truMy omnes qui speratis in Domino.'' ^ 

Put your trust absolutely in Providence; it 
watches over those who reverence the Kingdom 
of God and of Justice. Whatever happens, never 
doubt of Justice. At no other period of my life 
have I seen its action penetrating, to all appear- 
ance, the most trivial circumstances, the most 
insignificant incidents, the events most foreign 
to our personal calculations, as in this recent 

* Psalm xxxi. 24. 



Io6 CARDINAL MERCIER 

journey of mine. "We know that all things 
work together for good to them that love God," 
said St. Paul. " Scimus autem quoniam diligen- 
tibus Deum omnia co-operantur in bonum." ^ 

Are we not all and always, more than the 
lilies of the field, and the young bird that flut- 
ters in the branches, in the hand of the Most 
High? Draw your plans, set up your batteries, 
arrange your movements, but still man will pro- 
pose and God will dispose. 

"There is no king saved by the multitude of 
an host," says the Psalmist; "a horse is a vain 
thing for safety, neither shall he deliver any by 
his great strength. . . . Our soul waiteth for the 
Lord; He is our help and our shield." ^ 

Imagine a belHgerent nation, sure of its army 
corps, its munitions, its commanders, with every 
prospect of gaining a victory. If God should 
allow the germs of an epidemic to spread among 
the ranks, all optimistic previsions would at once 
be brought to naught. 

Therefore, above all things, put your trust in 
God. Invoke His favor by purifying your con- 
sciences. Cleanse your homes. Let purity, 
modesty, and Christian simplicity reign there. 
Prepare in contrition for the performance of 
your Easter duties. Do not isolate yourselves 
in the Church. You are in her maternal breast; 

^ Romans viii. 28. 

2 Psalm xxxviii. 16-20. 



MY RETURN FROM ROME I07 

live in her spirit. Lent is the season when the 
Church awaits in prayerful lamentation, in priva- 
tion and suffering, reconciliation with her prodi- 
gal children, the birth of catechumens to divine 
life. Lament, pray, deny yourselves, suffer with 
your Mother. 

As a general measure, we have thought it well 
to give you dispensation from the rules of fast- 
ing and abstinence, save on Ash Wednesday 
and Good Friday, but if you do not feel the need 
for them, do not take advantage of all the dis- 
pensations; impose certain voluntary supere- 
rogatory mortifications upon yourselves. Apply 
yourselves to meditation; watch over your senses 
and the inclinations of your hearts, that your 
souls may freely soar to Him who is your sole 
Good, and who alone can give you peace, that is, 
serenity with order. 

Pray, pray confidently, pray perseveringly. 
Pray at night with your families. Attend the 
Sunday Offices, Mass, Vespers, and Benediction. 

Above all, my beloved Brethren, attend the Holy 
Sacrifice of the Mass whenever you have time, 
and participate in it by Holy Communion. At 
present many of you are less strenuously occu- 
pied than formerly, and are freer to dispose of 
your time. Could you not, by exerting your 
good will, spend half an hour at the foot of the 
altar, in a union of your souls with our Lord 
Jesus Christ, not only on Sundays, but daily, 



I08 CARDINAL MERCIER 

praying for our country, for our heroes on the 
Yser, living or dead, for those who are suffering 
and dying? He is there, our Divine Lord; He 
comes to remind us that He was preeminently 
the Man of Sorrows, acquainted with grief: 
virum dolorum et scientem infirmitatum; ^ but He 
is risen. He is in the triumph of His glory at 
the right hand of the Eternal Father; and if He 
deigns to dwell among us, and to give Himself 
for our food in the Holy Eucharist, it is that He 
may fill us with His life, and help us to tread 
the path of suffering with Him, that so we may 
follow Him into the joy of the everlasting tab- 
ernacles. Courage, my Brethren; listen to my 
exhortations; attend Mass daily, take your missal 
with you, follow the priest closely in it, partake 
with him of the Eucharistic feast, and you will 
soon perceive that your life is being transformed, 
and that our Divine Jesus does not deceive us 
when He says: "Come unto Me, all ye that labor 
and are heavy laden, and I will refresh you. 
Venite ad me omnes qui lahoratis et onerati estis 
et ego reficiam vos." ^ 

Let us more especially invoke St. Joseph during 
this month of March, which popular piety dedi- 
cates to him. Let us celebrate his festival. Let 
us commend our families to him and confide our 
soldiers to his care. 

^ Isaias liii. 3. 
2 Matthew xi. 29. 



MY RETURN FROM ROME IO9 

As we write this conclusion, the newspapers 
bring us a summary of a letter addressed by the 
Sovereign Pontiff to the Cardinal Vicar, in which 
His Holiness expresses a dual wish, to which we 
hasten to respond. 

The Holy Father implores Divine Mercy to 
put an end to the conflict which is steeping 
Europe in blood. During Lent we desire priests 
to replace the Collect pro tempore belli by the 
Collect pro pace. 

The Holy Father further asks that, on Good 
Friday, all mourning mothers and wives should 
stand with the Mother of Jesus at the foot of 
the Cross and unite their sacrifice with the blood- 
stained Sacrifice of the Redemption. We will 
all associate ourselves with the ideas of His 
Holiness. Belgium has already been dedicated 
to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and to St. Joseph. 
On Good Friday we will dedicate ourselves to 
the sorrowful and immaculate Heart of Mary. 
We delight in honoring the Immaculate Concep- 
tion of the Holy Virgin, and this is well; but 
together with this privilege, freely conferred by 
God on her who was to be His Mother, let us 
remember the title Mary acquired by her suffer- 
ings to our gratitude. Pierced by the sword of 
spiritual martyrdom, the Heart of Mary volun- 
tarily associated its Compassion with the Immo- 
lation of the Divine Victim of Calvary, for the 
redemption of our souls. 



no CARDINAL MERCIER 

The evil hours we are experiencing urge us to 
have recourse more especially to the Meditation 
of our Lady of Sorrows. 

Therefore, in response to the ardent wish which 
has been expressed to me, I will, during the 
office of Good Friday, consecrate in the depths 
of my soul, my diocese, and as far as lies in my 
power, our dear country to the sorrowful and im- 
maculate Heart of Mary. I exhort our priests to 
unite with me in this intention, and the faithful 
to repeat devoutly the following invocation, to 
which I have already, on a former occasion, at- 
tached an indulgence of loo days: Sorrowful and 
immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us, who ask 
thy help. 

D. J. Card. Mercier, 
Archbishop of Malines. 



IV 

FOR OUR SOLDIERS 



IV 

FOR OUR SOLDIERS 

Address given by His Eminence Cardinal Mercier on 
the day of the National Fete, July 21, igi6, at 
Sainte Gudule, Brussels. 

"Jerusalem was made an habitation of strangers; 
her festival days were turned into mourning." 

/ Machabees, i. 40, 41. 

Beloved Brethren, 

"E ought to have met together here to 
celebrate the eighty-fifth anniversary of 
our national independence. 

To-day, in fourteen years' time, our restored 
cathedrals and our rebuilt churches will be 
thrown widely open; the crowds will surge in; 
our King Albert, standing on this throne, will 
bow his unconquered head before the King of 
Kings; the Queen and the Royal Princes will 
surround him; we shall hear again the joyous 
peals of our bells, and throughout the whole 
country, under the vaulted arches of our churches, 
Belgians, hand in hand, will renew their vows 
to their God, their Sovereign, and their liberty, 
while the bishops and the priests, interpreters of 
the soul of the nation, will intone a triumphant 

113 



114 CARDINAL MERCIER 

Te Deum in a common transport of joyous thanks- 
giving. 

To-day the hymn of joy dies on our lips. 

The Jewish people in captivity at Babylon, 
sitting in tears on the banks of the Euphrates, 
watched the waters of the river flow by. Their 
dumb harps were hung on the willows by the 
bank. Who amongst them would have the 
courage to sing the song of Jehovah in a strange 
land? "O Jerusalem," cried the Psalmist, "if 
ever I forget thee, let my right hand wither, let 
my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth if I 
do not remember thee; if thou art no longer the 
beginning of my joys." 

The Psalm ends in imprecations, but we do 
not allow ourselves to repeat them; we are not 
of the Old Testament, tolerating the laws of 
retaliation: "An eye for an eye, and a tooth for 
a tooth." Our lips, purified by the fire of Chris- 
tian charity, utter no words of hate. 

To hate is to make it one's object to do harm 
to others and to dehght in so doing. Whatever 
may be our suff'erings, we must not wish to show 
hatred towards those who have inflicted them. 
Our national unity is joined with a feeling of 
universal brotherhood. But even this feeling of 
universal brotherhood is dominated by our respect 
for unconditional justice, without which no rela- 
tionship is possible, either between individuals or 
between nations. 



FOR OUR SOLDIERS II5 

And that is why, with St. Thomas Aquinas, 
the most authoritative teacher of Christian 
Theology, we proclaim that public retribution is 
commendable. 

Crimes, violarion of justice, outrage on the 
public peace, whether enacted by an individual 
or by a group, must be repressed. Men's minds 
are stirred up, tortured, uneasy, as long as the 
guilty one is not put back in his place, as the 
strong, healthy, colloquial expression has it. To 
put men and things back in their places is to re- 
estabhsh order, readjust the balance, and restore 
peace on a just basis. 

Public retribution in this sense may distress 
the affected sentimentality of a weak nature; 
all the same, it is, says St. Thomas, the expres- 
sion and the decree of the highest, the purest 
form of charity, and of the zeal which is its flame. 
It does not make a target of suffering, but a 
weapon wherewith to avenge outraged justice. 

How can one love order without hating dis- 
order; intelligently wish for peace without ex- 
pelling that which is destroying it; love a brother, 
that is to say wish him well, without desiring 
that willingly, or by force, his will shall bend be- 
fore the unalterable edicts of justice and truth? 

It is from these heights that one must view the 
war in order to understand the greatness of its 
extent. 

Once more, perhaps, you will find yourself 



Il6 CARDINAL MERCIER 

face to face with efFeminate natures for whom 
the war means nothing beyond explosions of 
mines, bursting of shells, massacres of men, 
spilling of blood, piling up of corpses. You will 
meet politicians of narrow vision who see no 
further stake in a battle beyond the interest of 
one day, the taking of so much ground, of a 
stretch of country, or of a province. 

But no. If, in spite of its horrors, war, I mean 
a just war, has so much austere beauty, it is 
because war brings out the disinterested enthu- 
siasm of a whole people, which gives, or is pre- 
pared to give, its most precious possession, even 
life itself, for the defense and the vindication 
of things which cannot be weighed, which cannot 
be calculated, but which can never be swallowed 
up: Justice, Honor, Peace, Liberty! 

Do you not feel that, in these two years, the 
war, the ardent unflagging interest which you 
give to it, purifies you, separates your higher 
nature from the dross, draws you away to uplift 
you towards something nobler and better than 
yourselves ? 

You are rising towards the ideals of justice and 
honor. They support you and draw you upwards. 

And, because this ideal, if it is not a vain ab- 
straction, which evaporates like the phantasies 
of a dream, must have its foundation in a living 
subject, I am never tired of maintaining this 
truth, which holds us all under its yoke. God 



FOR OUR SOLDIERS II7 

reveals Himself as the Master, the Director of 
events, and of our wills, the holy Master of the 
universal conscience. 

Ah, if we could clasp in our arms our heroes 
who are fighting for us over there, or are await- 
ing anxiously in the trenches their turn to go 
under fire; if we could take them by surprise, 
and feel the beatings of their hearts, would not 
each one of them say to us: I am doing my duty, 
I am sacrificing myself on the altar of justice? 

And you, wives and mothers, tell us in your 
turn of the beauty of these tragic years; wives, 
whose every thought goes, sad, but resigned, 
towards the absent one, bringing him your hopes, 
your long expectation, your prayers. Mothers, 
whose divided existence is consumed in unceasing 
anguish, you have given your sons, and you will 
not take them back; we stand breathless with 
unceasing admiration before you. 

The head of one of our noblest families wrote 
to me: "Our son in the 7th Line Regiment has 
fallen; my wife and I are broken-hearted; and 
yet, if it had to be, we would give him again." 

One of the curates of the capital has been con- 
demned to twelve years' penal servitude. I was 
allowed to go into his cell to embrace and to 
bless him. "I have three brothers at the front," 
he said, "and I think I am here chiefly because 
I helped the youngest — he is only seventeen — to 
rejoin the elder ones; one of my sisters is in a 



Il8 CARDINAL MERCIER 

neighboring cell, but, thank God, my mother is 
not left alone; indeed she has sent us a message 
to say so; she does not weep." 

Is it not true that our mothers make us think 
of the mother of the Machabees? 

What lessons of moral greatness there are to 
be learned here around us, and in exile and in the 
prisons, and in the concentration camps, in Hol- 
land and in Germany! 

Do we think enough of what those brave men 
must be suffering, who since the beginning of the 
war, on the morrow of the defense of Liege and 
Namur, and the retreat from Antwerp, saw their 
military career shattered, and chafe and fret, 
these guardians of our rights, and of our com- 
munal liberties, whose valor has reduced them 
to inaction? 

It needs courage to throw one*s self forward, 
but it needs no less to hold one's self back. 
Sometimes it is more noble to suffer in silence 
than to act. 

And what of these two years of calm submis- 
sion by the Belgian people before the inevitable; 
this unshakable tenacity, which moved a hum- 
ble woman, before whom the possibilities of 
an approaching conclusion of peace were being 
discussed, to say: "Oh, as for us, we must not 
worry; we can go on waiting." How beautiful 
is all this, and how full of instruction for the 
generations to come! 



FOR OUR SOLDIERS II9 

This is what you must look at, my brothers, 
the greatness of the nation in her sacrifice; our 
universal and enduring brotherhood in anguish 
and in mourning, and in the same unconquerable 
hope; this is what you must look at to appraise 
your Belgian fatherland at its true value. 

Now the first exponents of this moral greatness 
are our soldiers. 

Until that day when they return to us, and 
when grateful Belgium acclaims the living, and 
places a halo of glory about the memory of her 
dead, let us build up for them in our hearts a 
permanent monument of sacred gratitude. 

Let us pray for those who are no more. Let 
us exclude no one from our commiseration; the 
blood of Christ was shed for all. Some of them 
are atoning in Purgatory for the last remnants 
of their human weakness. It is for you to hasten 
their entry into Paradise. Succor the poor in 
distress, both the poor who are known to you 
and those who are ashamed to beg. Give of 
your abundance to those who are in need of the 
necessities of life. Be present at the Mass, which 
is celebrated every week in your parish churches 
for our dead soldiers; take your children with 
you, encourage them to communicate, and com- 
municate with them. 

Let us also pray for those who are still holding 
the firing line on the field of battle. Remember 
that, even at this moment, while I am speaking 



126 CAIlfiiNAL MERCIER 

to you, some of them are in the agony of death. 
The prospect of eternity stretches out before 
them. Let us think of them, let us mortify our- 
selves for them, resign ourselves to God for them, 
and obtain for them a holy death. 

"Our soldiers are our masters," wrote a French 
Academician yesterday; "they are our leaders, 
our teachers, our judges, our supporters, our 
true friends; let us be worthy of them, let us 
imitate them, so that we may not do less than 
our duty; they are always ready to do more than 
their own." 

The hour of deliverance approaches, but it has 
not yet struck. Let us be patient. Let us not 
suffer our courage to waver. Let us surrender to 
Divine Providence the work of making perfect 
our national probation. 

Young women, young girls, let me ask if you 
are thinking seriously enough about the gravity 
of this present time.? I entreat you not to turn 
aside from the mourning of your country. There 
are attitudes, there are ways of behaving which 
are an insult to grief. 

For you modesty is at all times a virtue and 
a halo of glory; but to-day it is in addition a 
patriotic duty. 

You, also, must think of the privations and of 
the endurance of our soldiers. 

Let us all try to adopt the great principle of 
austerity in our lives. 



FOR OUR SOLDIERS 121 

"How much," continues the patriot whom I 
have just quoted, "how much ought we, in the 
relatively easy conditions and the less exposed 
districts, which are ours, and which do not deserve 
the name of fire zones, to endeavor to reduce and 
simplify our needs, and like the soldiers, though 
in our own sphere, to show more concentrated 
energy. Let us not allow ourselves a moment's 
distraction or relaxation. Let us devote every 
minute in our lives to the magnificent cause for 
which our brothers are so devotedly sacrificing 
theirs. 

"And, just as our heroes at the front show us 
a wonderful and consoling spectacle of indis- 
soluble unity, of a brotherhood in arms which 
nothing can destroy, even so, in our ranks, less 
compact and well disciplined though they may 
be, we shall earnestly strive to maintain the 
same patriotic sense of union. We will respect 
the truce imposed on our quarrels by the one 
great Cause which alone ought to use and absorb 
all our powers of attack and combat; and if 
there are any godless or unfortunate people, who 
fail to understand the urgency and the beauty of 
this national precept, and insist, in spite of all, 
on keeping alive and fomenting the passions which 
divide us when other matters are concerned, we 
will turn aside our heads, and continue, without 
answering them, to remain faithful to the pact of 
fellowship, of friendship, of loyal and true con- 



122 CARDINAL MERCIER 

fidence which we have concluded with them, even 
in spite of themselves, under the great inspiration 
of the war." 

The approaching date of the first centenary of 
our independence ought to find us stronger, more 
intrepid, more united than ever. Let us prepare 
ourselves for it with work, with patience and in 
true brotherhood. 

When, in 1930, we recall the dark years of 
1915-1916, they will appear to us as the bright- 
est, the most majestic and, if, from to-day, we 
resolve that they shall be so, the happiest and the 
most fruitful in our national history. Per crucem 
ad lucem — from the sacrifice flashes forth the 
light! 



V 

THE VOICE OF GOD 



V 

THE VOICE OF GOD 

first sunday of the month of the 
holy rosary, i916 

Introduction 

The Trial is long 

YES, the trial is long. (I hear you repeat 
this from day to day, and I think there 
can be none who do not share your feehng.) 

And when will it end? 

One day when our divine Saviour had been 
speaking to His Apostles of the calamities which 
will herald the approaching end of the world — 
wars, pestilence, famine, earthquakes, atmos- 
pheric disturbances — His hearers asked Him: 
"When shall these things be?" 

And our divine Redeemer answered: "Of that 
day and that hour knoweth no man . . . not 
even the Son of Man";^ in other words, it did 
not enter into the earthly mission of the Son of 
God to reveal it to humanity. The great thing 
for you is, indeed, not to know whether the world 

^ Matthew xxiv. 3; Mark xiii. 32. 
I2S 



126 CARDINAL MERCIER 

will last a thousand years, ten thousand years, 
or ten million years longer; it signifies not whether 
you die in youth, in maturity, or in extreme old 
age; one thing alone is of consequence, that you 
save your souls, and that you be docile instru- 
ments in the almighty hands of the Master of 
events, for the sanctification of His Holy Name, 
the establishment of His Kingdom, and the ful- 
fillment of His Will. 

Part I 

The soul must contemplate Eternity in silence, if 
it would grasp the deep significance of events. 

God speaks to us from without and from 
within. 

He speaks to us from without by the marvels 
of Nature and the lessons of events. 

He speaks to us from within by the gentle 
breath of the graces of His Holy Spirit. 

The voice of Nature is generally harmonious 
and peaceful, as in the solemn progress of the 
sun through space, the murmur of the waters, 
the growth of corn, the slow evolution of the 
seasons. But at times it is violent and terrible, 
as in thunder and the thunderbolt, the fury of 
the tempest, the shocks that make the earth 
tremble, and cast out the lava of volcanoes 
upon it. 

The world of history has also its peaceful ex- 



THE VOICE OF GOD 1 27 

pansions, its periods of concentrated labor, of 
economic, intellectual, artistic, and civilizing suc- 
cess; but at times, passions run riot, hate stifles 
the voice of love, death seems to triumph over 
life. 

Nevertheless, the God of grace is still speaking 
to us. 

Each historic period is a page in the divine 
book of Providence. 

We write it, but the Will of the Almighty, 
strong yet gentle, holds the pen. 

It depends upon us whether we write in char- 
acters of gold or letters of blood, but the book 
must be written. We shall find this book again 
in eternity, and it will then be manifest to all to 
what extent, and how, each one of us has col- 
laborated in it. 

As long as history lasts, the book remains 
closed and sealed; the divine Lamb, who shed 
His blood for our redemption, alone has power 
to break the seven seals which guard its secrets. 
The Elders of the Apocalypse, prostrate before 
the Lamb, offer Him the prayers of the Saints, 
and sing: "Thou art worthy to take the book, 
and to open the seals thereof; because Thou wast 
slain, and hast redeemed us to God in Thy blood 
out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, 
and nation; and hast made us to our God kings 
and priests; and we shall reign on the earth. 
Dignus es, Domine, accipere librum, et aperire 



128 CARDINAL MERCIER 

signacula ejus; quoniam occisus es, et redemisti 
nos Deo in sanguine tuo ex omni tribu, et lingua^ et 
populo, et natione; et fecisti nos Deo nostro regnum, 
et sacerdotes." ^ 

The last seal will be broken when the divine 
Jesus who has deigned to abase Himself to us, 
and to take on our frail humanity, that He might 
sacrifice it for us, shall come back to us in the 
majesty of His glory, seated on the clouds, the 
cross of the Last Judgment in His hand, and shall 
say in a voice infinitely more mighty than the 
thunder to each of His creatures one or the other 
of these two things: "Come, ye blessed of My 
Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you," 
or: "Depart, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, 
prepared for the devil and his angels." 

These will be the last resounding words that 
will fall from the lips of the Man-God; decisive, 
irrevocable words, which will range us for all 
eternity on the right or on the left, among the 
elect in glory, or among the reprobate in hell. 

My beloved Brethren, do you think of this.'' 
Do you think of it enough ? 

In the presence of this supreme alternative, 
what does all the rest matter.? 

What does it matter whether you die young or 
old, in bed or on the battle-field, far from those 
belonging to you, or near to them.? 

What in the last resort will it ma :ter to you 

^ Apocalypse v. 9, 10. 



THE VOICE OF GOD 1 29 

whether your days have been passed happily, in 
a much loved home, in comfort and abundance, 
surrounded by affection and esteem, or whether 
you have lived in affliction, in solitude, perhaps 
in poverty, bowed down by suspicion, humilia- 
tion, and oppression? How will you look upon 
and judge these trifles, when you contemplate 
them from eternity? 

Whatever may betide you, there is something 
in you which no person and no event can touch; 
this is your soul. And this soul, which belongs to 
you, and is yours, of which you are the master, 
was made to enjoy God, and will enjoy God, if 
that is your desire; it will embrace Him and be 
embraced by Him, not for the brief space of a 
man's life, or of an historic period, but eternally, 
for ever and ever. 

So, Brethren, Hft up your eyes, I beseech you, 
and keep them fixed upon this polar star of your 
eternity. 

Then you will see created events fading into 
the penumbra of nullity which the Scriptures, 
that other direct and personal voice of God, call 
alternately a vapor which steals away and dis- 
appears, a cloud which dissolves, a shadow which 
flees, a flower which withers, a wave which melts 
again into the ocean. 

Eternity! My Brethren, we all lack courage 
to look at it steadily, were it but for once. Lay 
hold of it as closely as you can; keep it fixed in 



130 CARDINAL MERCIER 

your imagination for an hour, a half hour, a 
quarter of an hour; concentrate your thoughts 
on it; during this quarter of an hour see only 
this, and in it God, the God that was made Man, 
your Creator, your Savior and your Judge; 
you, confronting it, made for it, determine to 
forget all else, for this short space of time; and 
you will rise enlightened, tempered, fortified. 

At the beginning of this address, my Brethren, 
I told you that God speaks to us from within and 
from without by the voice of Nature or of history; 
from within by the gentle breath of the graces of 
His Holy Spirit. 

Would you know why it is that Eternity, which 
is of such vast importance, touches you so little, 
whereas events which Time carries away absorb 
you so deeply? 

It is because you find time for everything, but 
that you will not spare any for the one thing 
which is worth while. You are not able to collect 
your thoughts and listen. Your soul has been 
made the temple of the Holy Ghost by baptism 
and confirmation; let it, as St. John says, receive 
the anointing of grace, and it will learn to dis- 
tinguish truth from falsehood.^ But, observes 
St. Gregory the Pope, Grace is like the breeze 
of dawn; it caresses, and is gone; unquiet spirits 
cannot hold it.^ 

^ / John ii. 27. 

* " Moral." Lib. v. cap. 26. 



THE VOICE OF GOD I3I 

You are at the mercy of events, whereas you 
ought to dominate them. You obey your emo- 
tions, whereas it is your duty, and within your 
power, to control them. Reduce them to silence, 
kneel down in your room with closed doors, 
clauso ostio,^ or in the sanctuary where our divine 
Savior dwells for us, in front of the altar of the 
Holy Sacrifice, in front of the tabernacle, in front 
of the crucifix, and there in silence, withdrawing 
from all that is happening without and all that 
is stirring within, ask our Lord to send you His 
Holy Spirit; the Holy Spirit is the forefinger of 
the Father's right hand, digitus Paternae dexterae; 
He will point out the way in which your conscience 
shall find truth, Hght, and peace, in all your hours 
of grief and anguish. 



Part II 

Our Lord Jesus Christ gives us the key to events in 
the mystery of His Death and Resurrection, per- 
petuated in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Life 
springs from death. 

The peace of humanity ought not to be broken 
by wars. In the original scheme of Providence 
the passions were in subjection to reason, and 
ought never to have interfered with the concord 
either of families or of nations. But sin overthrew 

^ Matthew vi. 6. 



132 CARDINAL MERCIER 

this generous plan, and after sin, disorder made 
its appearance in history. Henceforth revolt 
became an element in events. Pride and greed 
broke down equilibrium; repression, defense by 
force of arms, are necessary for its reestablish- 
ment. Wars have become inevitable, and as 
long as there are upon the earth men guilty of 
allowing their passions to dominate their reason, 
and their reason to set itself above the divine will, 
universal pacifism will be a dream. Nay, more 
than this: to desire peace for its own sake, peace 
at any price, would be to accept with equal indif- 
ference justice and injustice, truth and false- 
hood; it would be an act of cowardice, an impiety. 

Nevertheless, a great artist is able to resolve 
discords into harmonies. Under the brush of a 
master of genius, the ugly, by force of contrast, 
becomes surpassing beauty. 

Thus divine Providence, which designed naught 
but good, found means, in the secrets of its in- 
finite wisdom, to transform this world of ours, 
disturbed and disfigured by the sin of our first 
parents and our individual crimes, into a work of 
redemption, surpassing the sketch of its primi- 
tive design in grandeur and moral perfection. 
"God, Who is almighty and supremely good," 
says St. Augustine, "would not have allowed the 
smallest taint of evil to have crept into His work, 
had He not been at once good enough and power- 
ful enough to evolve good even from evil. 



THE VOICE OF GOD I33 

Neque Deus omnipotenSy rerum cui summa po- 
testas, cum summe bonus sit, ullo modo sineret 
mail aliquid esse in operihus suis, nisi usque adeo 
esset omnipotens et bonus, ut bene jaceret et de 
malo." ^ And you remember, my Brethren, that 
every year on Easter Eve when the Resurrec- 
tion of Christ is proclaimed, the Church makes 
bold to sing: *'0 yes, Adam's sin, which Christ 
has taken away, was indeed necessary! O happy 
fault, which procured us such a mighty Re- 
deemer! certe necessarium Adae peccatum, 
quod Christi morte deletum est! felix culpa, quae 
talem ac tantum meruit habere Redemptorem!" 

The terrible events we have been witnessing for 
the last two years are the result of human passions 
we must deplore and execrate; but it is for us to 
raise ourselves, by reflection and faith, to a higher 
and serener conception of the general plan of 
Providence, and to apply to our affliction and the 
crimes which occasioned it what our liturgy says 
of the drama which was at once the darkest of 
crimes and the cruellest of agonies: "Lord God," 
it says in the canon of the Mass, "in memory of 
the blessed Passion of Christ Thy Son, our Lord, 
and of His glorious Resurrection and Ascension, 
we offer to Thy Sovereign Majesty this Holy 
Victim, this bread of life and this cup of 
immortality." 

Yes, in spite of its horrors, blessed was the 

^ " S. Aug. Enchiridion," Cap. xi. 



134 CARDINAL MERCIER 

Passion of our divine Saviour. Blessed for Him, 
for it earned Him His glorious Resurrection and 
Ascension, and His sovereignty of the world. 
Blessed for us, for henceforth, if we are willing 
to suffer with Him, we shall also be glorified with 
Him : " Si tamen compatimuTy ut et conglorificemur."'^ 
A moment of affliction now, as St. Paul says to 
the Corinthians, and above, for our reward, an 
"eternal and exceeding weight of glory," pro- 
vided that "we look not at the things which are 
seen, but at the things which are not seen; for 
the things which are seen are temporal; but 
the things which are not seen are eternal. Id 
enim, quod in praesenti est momentaneum et leve 
trihulationis nostrae, supra modum in suhlimitate 
aeternum gloriae pondus operatur in nobis, non 
contemplantibus nobis quae videntur, sed quae non 
videntur. ^uae enim videntur temporalia sunt, 
quae autem non videntur, aeterna sunt.''^ 

Such, my Brethren, in brief, is the funda- 
mental solution of the essential problems of life 
for individuals and for nations: the Passion be- 
fore the Resurrection, death to attain life, the 
Cross to enter into glory. 

Under the ancient covenant, God spoke to 
His chosen people by the medium of the Prophets. 
Under the new covenant, says St. Paul, He speaks 
to us directly by His Son, who, when He had 

^ Romans viii. 17. 

* II Corinthians iv. 17, 18. 



THE VOICE OF GOD I35 

purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of 
the Majesty on high.^ 

The prophets, Isaias, Jeremias, Ezechiel, Daniel, 
Nahum, Habacuc, and the rest, were commis- 
sioned to recall the chosen people and their 
oppressors, the Egyptians, Assyrians, Chaldaeans 
and Babylonians, to the law of duty; they pro- 
claimed to them invariably that in blood and 
ruins they would find at once their chastisement 
and the principle of their regeneration. God 
chastens us only to heal and save us. Guilty 
humanity must die to live again. Until the grain 
of wheat dies in the earth, there is no hope of 
life and fruitfulness. "Follow this rule," says 
St. Paul again; "look only to the Cross for your 
regeneration in Christ Jesus, and you shall find 
pardon and peace, you and all the true sons of 
Israel. Mihi autem absit gloriari, nisi in cruce 
Domini nostri Jesu Christi. . . . In Christo enim 
Jesu, nihil valet {nisi) nova creatura. Et quicum- 
que banc regulam secuti fuerint, pax super illos, et 
misericordia, et super Israel Dei."^ 

In so far as the Belgian people can accept these 
austere principles, in so far will it be able to take 
the two tragic years it has passed through as an 
incentive to a more vigorous future, a renewal of 
energy, a more ardent confidence in the illimitable 
resources of a Christian nation. 

^ Hebrews i. 2, 3. 

* Galatians vi. 14-16. 



136 CARDINAL MERCIER 

At this most intimate moment of the Mass, 
when the priest and the faithful are about to feed 
upon Christ, what is the prayer the Church puts 
upon our hps ? Once again she reminds us of the 
starting point and the term of life. Here, she 
says, the Eternal Father, with the cooperation 
of the Holy Spirit, realizes His design of making 
the Hfe-spring that is to nourish the world come 
forth from the death of our Lord Jesus Christ, 
the Son of the living God. " Domine Jesu Christe, 
Fill Dei vivi, qui ex voluntate Patris, co-operante 
Spiritu SanctOy per mortem tuam, mundum 
vivificasti. . . ." 

And have not the Holy Fathers, Popes Pius IX 
and Pius X, asked us to repeat each day after 
Mass this touching prayer: "I intreat Thee, O 
sweet Savior Jesus Christ, that Thy death may 
be to me a source of unfailing life, and that Thy 
Cross may be my glory forever. Mors tua sit 
mihi vita indeficiens, crux tua sit mihi gloria 
sempiterna." ^ 

Part HI 

Take an active part in the Holy Sacrifice of the 
Mass; worship the purposes of God therein; and 
further, expiate , give thanks, and pray. 

Come to Mass, my Brethren, to revive your 
religious Hfe. Come every day, if you can, but 
at least never miss the obligatory Sunday Mass. 

^ Pius, P.P. X, Aug. 29, 1912. 



' THE VOICE OF GOD 1 37 

I have of late encountered youths and maidens 
of the people, who would no longer venture to 
show themselves in church, because they have 
nothing but sabots to put on their feet. My 
children, I understand and sympathize with your 
humiliation. But believe that our divine Re- 
deemer is not like the parvenus whose glances 
you dread. He became poor of His own free will, 
to draw you to Him more closely; the nearer 
you are to destitution, the more you resemble 
Him, and the more He loves you. 

Oh! my Brethren, honor the poor. And you, 
my dear colleagues of the priesthood, give them 
the first place in your esteem and solicitude. I 
should wish to see them in the front rank in the 
temple of Jesus of Bethlehem and Nazareth. 
Before God and before His Church, they are 
greater and worthier than you and I. If they 
accept their condition cheerfully and with faith, 
they do more for the salvation of humanity than 
those whose wealth and success sometimes dazzle 
you. 

As to you, Ladies, if you flaunt your abundance 
when your sisters have only wooden shoes and 
shabby garments, know that you will be off'end- 
ing against God, your country, and the dignity 
of the poor. 

Come then, one and all, to Mass. Come 
modestly attired. You need not blush to come, 
however poor your garments, if they are clean. 



138 CARDINAL MERCIER 

Come mainly for the primary intention of the 
sacrifice, that of worshipping God. To worship 
God is to proclaim that God is God, that He is 
the Master to whom you owe obedience, that all 
He does is well done. Unite with the priest 
at the altar, not only in repeating prayers more 
or less similar to his; but also in the sacerdotal 
act. For you too are priests. You have heard 
how the Apostle St. John tells you in the Apoc- 
alypse that the blood of our Saviour Jesus Christ 
has made you all kings and priests; priests of 
God and of Christ, he says elsewhere.^ St. Peter 
expresses the same thought: Christ is the living 
stone upon which the whole Church is built, he 
says: "Ye also, as living stones are built up a 
spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up 
spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus 
Christ. Et ipsi tamquam lapides vivi super-aedi- 
ficamini, domus spiritualise sacerdotium sanctum, 
off err e spirituales hostias, acceptabiles Deo per Jesum 
Christum." ^ 

To the priest officially intrusted with public 
ministry in the Church, the bishop gives the 
following admonition: "Understand what you 
are doing; seek inspiration in your acts, from the 
mystery you touch with your hands; and since 
at the altar you renew the mystery of the Death 
of our Lord, mortify also in your members your 

^ Apocalypse xx. 6. 
2 / Peter ii. 5. 



THE VOICE OF GOD 1 39 

vicious instincts and evil desires. Agnoscite 
quod agitis; imitamini quod tractatis; quatenus 
mortis Dominicae mysterium celebrantes, mortifi- 
care membra vestra a vitiis et concupiscentiis 
omnibus procuretis." ^ 

And since you are priests, that is to say, sacri- 
ficers, be, moreover, yourselves the victims. 
"I beseech you, brethren, by the mercies of God," 
writes St. Paul to the Romans, "present your 
bodies a Hving sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto 
God, which is your reasonable service. Obsecro 
itaque vos fratres, per misericordiam Dei, ut exhi- 
beatis corpora vestra hostiam viventem, sanctam, Deo 
placentem, rationabile obsequium ve strum.'' ^ 

Make your individual sufferings and your 
national sufferings, as well as every act of your 
life, the material of your sacrifice. 

And this is not enough. Sacrifice your life 
itself in anticipation as a free-will offering to the 
glory of God. Death is but a violent rupture 
which we must inevitably undergo; it is an act 
with which the Christian soul should associate 
itself actively, the restitution to the sovereign 
Master of a possession He has confided to us for 
His glory; this restitution is a sacerdotal act 
which the Christian accomplishes in union with 
the supreme dissolution of our Lord Jesus Christ. 
And when all of us, familiarizing ourselves with 

^ Pont. Rom. de Ord. Presbyteri. 
^ Romans xii. i. 



140 CARDINAL MERCIER 

this Christian and ennobhng conception of death, 
shall, in concert with our sons and brothers who 
fall on the field of honor, offer this spiritual sacri- 
fice of our earthly lives, a magnificent homage will 
rise from the soil of our Belgian fatherland to the 
throne of divine Majesty, and will come down to 
us again in blessings. Our sacrifice will be an 
act of worship and of expiation. During these 
two months, of the Holy Rosary, and of the Dead, 
in union with the sorrowful and immaculate 
heart of Mary, kneel diligently in prayer at the 
Calvary, be assiduous in your attendance at the 
Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, asking pardon for 
the living, and mercy for the souls of our beloved 
dead. 

Also, show gratitude to God. Bless Him for 
having preserved to our affection our King, the 
pride of the Belgian nation; our strong and gentle 
Queen, and the royal children; thank Him for 
having given us patience to endure, without 
flinching or murmuring, our long, hard ordeal; 
for having granted us the first benediction of our 
Holy Father Pope Benedict XV, and for having 
inspired him to say that his warmest paternal 
feeling is for Belgium, for having filled the hearts 
of foreign nations with respect for our mis- 
fortunes. After the war we ought to raise a 
monument of gratitude to them; let us even now 
give them a place of honor in our grateful piety. 

Finally, until we have reached the end of our 



THE VOICE OF GOD I4I 

Calvary, let our participation in the Mass be a 
constant prayer for our beloved country, for 
those present and those absent, our brave prisoners 
and interned compatriots, our dear refugees. 

The longer the war lasts, the more ardent does 
my pity become for all those energetic men who 
were eager to spend themselves on our behalf, 
and who are now tortured by their inaction. 

Our refugees! England, France, Holland, and 
Switzerland leave nothing undone to alleviate 
their lot, but exile is exile, none the less. We 
sometimes hear bitter things said of them. I do 
not deny that there may have been among them 
certain weaknesses, perhaps remembered with 
sorrow now by those who yielded to them; but 
how many among those you judge hastily, re- 
luctantly obey some delicate sentiment of defer- 
ence, of filial or paternal aiFection, of devotion 
to a sick person, of solicitude for a son at the 
front, of material necessity. According to those 
who are in close contact with them, our absent 
ones rival their compatriots in occupied Belgium 
in patience, self-denial, and apostolic spirit. We 
shall receive them with open arms when they 
return to us, and they must not doubt that they 
will find here friends and brothers who will have 
invariably remained faithful to them. 

We cannot exclude any from our prayers, even 
our enemies; but Christian theology teaches us to 
graduate our affections. Give your best afFec- 



142 CARDINAL MERCIER 

tion, says St. Thomas Aquinas, to your relatives, 
your compatriots, those who do good to you.^ 

Pray then above all for our dear soldiers, who 
are so close to our hearts by the ties of blood, 
perhaps, by patriotism, by their devotion to us. 
Associate with them their wives and mothers, 
those silent heroines of the great European drama. 
Pray for our armies which, in the west, the east, 
and the south, are fighting with so much valor 
and tenacity for our common cause. May their 
guardian angels be with them in action, and 
keep them chaste and devout in their hours of 
rest. Let me also specially commend to you our 
priests, mihtary chaplains or stretcher-bearers; 
may their ministry be fruitful; may they pass 
through dangers unspotted, and come back to us 
strong and pious. 

Suffering has made us more compassionate. In 
days gone by we heard without much emotion 
of the massacres of the poor Armenians. Mussul- 
man fanaticism has caused the death of thousands 
upon thousands of these unhappy people in the 
course of the present war, and has carried off their 
women and their young girls into slavery. Have 
pity on them; pray for them. 

Poland, noble Poland, always faithful to her 
creed and her vows, who has never embarked on 
any war of conquest, but has always fought for 
the Hberty of nations and for European civiliza- 

^ "Summa Theol.," 2, 2 q. 26, a. 7. 



THE VOICE OF GOD I43 

tlon, has suffered more than we have done; her 
sons are scattered in Russian, Austrian and Ger- 
man battalions; her soil has been torn and rav- 
aged by the ebb and flood of armies; America 
cannot feed her; pray for her, my Brethren, and 
ask God to grant that at least one of the happy 
results of this horrible war may be the definitive 
recognition of the independence of Poland. 

Finally, here also, in occupied Belgium, let us 
pray one for another, and love one another. 
May our aff"ection be sincere and active. The 
history of Belgian charity during the war will 
furnish pages worthy to figure beside those in 
which the heroism of our soldiers will be recorded. 
Let there be no stain on our national record! Let 
us all collaborate to the utmost in our union and 
our mutual help. Let those who are wealthy give 
Hberally to those who are in want, to the infirm 
and the weak. Refrain from enriching your- 
selves — this would be hateful indeed — at the 
expense of the suffering of others. 

And let us all remain patient and enduring 
to the end. Lift up your hearts! Let us redouble 
our confidence. Let us cry to God, in the words 
of the holy Liturgy: "O God, come to my aid! 
Lord, make haste to help me! Deus, in 
adjutorium meum intende. Domine, ad adju- 
vandum me festina!" Meanwhile, be calm and 
courageous; murmur not. Let us apply to our 
patriotic endurance what our blessed Saviour 



144 CARDINAL MERCIER 

says of the work of our eternal salvation: "He 
that endureth to the end shall be saved, ^ui autem 
'per s ever averit usque in finem hie salvus erit." ^ 

My beloved Brethren, all and every one of you, 
Belgians of occupied Belgium and absent com- 
patriots, receive my episcopal and paternal 
blessing. 

D. J. Card. Mercier, 
Archbishop of M alines 

^ Matthew x. 22. 



VI 

BELGIUM ENSLAVED 



VI 
BELGIUM ENSLAVED 

CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN CARDINAL MERCIER 
AND THE GERMAN COMMANDERS 

Letter of His Eminence^ Cardinal Mercier, to 

Governor-General von Bissing 

Archdiocese of Malines, 
Malines, October 19, 1916. 

Sir: 

ON the day after the capitulation of Antwerp 
the distracted people were asking what 
would happen to Belgian citizens who were of 
mihtary age, or who would attain such age before 
the end of the occupation. In view of the sup- 
plications I received from fathers and mothers, 
I decided to question the Governor of Antwerp, 
Baron von Huene, who was good enough to 
reassure me and to authorize me to reassure the 
griefstricken parents. However, the rumor had 
spread in Antwerp that at Liege, Namur, and 
Charleroi young men had been seized and forcibly 
transported to Germany. I, therefore, asked 
Governor von Huene to kindly confirm in writing 
the verbal pledge which he had already given me 
that nothing of this kind would happen at Ant- 
werp. He answered me immediately that the 

147 



148 CARDINAL MERCIER 

rumors of deportations were without foundation, 
and wrote me a letter containing the following 
statement: "Young men need have no fear of 
being sent to Germany, either to be enrolled in 
the army there, or to be employed at forced 
labor." 

This declaration, written and signed, was pub- 
licly communicated to the clergy and faithful of 
the Province of Antwerp, as Your Excellency 
may ascertain from the inclosed document dated 
October 16, 1914, which was read in all the 
churches. 

When your predecessor, the late Baron von der 
Goltz, arrived in Brussels, I had the honor of 
waiting on him, and asked him to kindly ratify 
for the whole country, and without any Hmitation 
of time, the pledges which General von Huene 
had given me for the Province of Antwerp. The 
Governor-General retained my petition to exam- 
ine it at leisure. The following day he was good 
enough to come in person to Malines and bring 
me his approval. There, in the presence of two 
aides-de-camp and of my private secretary, he 
confirmed the promise that the Hberty of Belgian 
citizens would be respected. 

To doubt the authority of such pledges would 
have been an insult to the persons who had 
signed them, and I therefore employed all the 
powers of persuasion I possessed to dispel the 
persistent uneasiness of the families concerned. 



BELGIUM ENSLAVED I49 

But now your Government is tearing away from 
their homes workers who, through no fault of 
their own, have been reduced to a state of "un- 
employment." ^ It is violently separating them 
from their wives and children, and deporting 
them to a foreign land. A large number of work- 
men have already met this unhappy fate; more 
numerous still are those who are menaced with 
the same violence. 

In the name of the freedom of domicile and the 
freedom of labor; in the name of the inviolability 
of family life; in the name of morality, which 
the policy of deportation would gravely com- 
promise; in the name of the pledges given by the 
Governor of Antwerp and the Governor-General, 
the immediate representative of the supreme 
authority in the German empire, I respectfully 
ask Your Excellency to have the measures of 
compulsory labor and deportation repealed, and 
to restore to their hearths those Belgian work- 
men who have been already deported. 

Your Excellency will appreciate how heavy 
would be the weight of my responsibility towards 
families if the confidence which they have re- 
posed in you through my intervention and on 

^ It may be well to remind the reader that the present "unem- 
ployment" {chomage) in Belgium is mainly the result of the patri- 
otic refusal of the inhabitants to work for Germany. As the terms 
"chomage" and "chomeurs" (unemployed) have thus a special 
meaning in this controversy, it has been thought well to place be- 
tween quotation marks their English equivalents. — Translator's 
Note. 



150 CARDINAL MERCIER 

my recommendation were lamentably deceived. 

I cannot, however, believe that such will be the 

case. 

Yours most respectfully, 

(Signed) D. J. Cardinal Mercier 

Archbishop of Malines 
His Excellency, Baron von Bissing, 
Governor-General, Brussels. 

On the same day Cardinal Mercier sent the 
following letter to Baron von der Lancken, the 
head of the poHtical department at Brussels and 
the most important German official after the 
Governor-General, inclosing a copy of the above 
protest addressed to Baron von Bissing. 

Letter of His Eminence, Cardinal Mercier, to 
Baron von der Lancken 

Archdiocese of Malines, 
Malines, October 19, 1916. 

Sir: 

I have had the honor of sending His Excel- 
lency, Baron von Bissing, a letter of which I 
inclose a copy. 

Repeatedly and even publicly the Governor- 
General has expressed his intention to reserve 
a large share of his solicitude for the interests of 
the occupied territory, and you yourself have so 
often affirmed the wish of the German authorities 
not to perpetuate during the period of occupa- 
tion the state of war which existed during its 



BELGIUM ENSLAVED 151 

early days. Consequently, I cannot believe that 
you will put into execution the measures with 
which your Government threatens the Belgian 
workmen who have been reduced, through no 
fault of their own, to a state of "unemployment." 

I hope you will use all your influence with the 
higher authorities to prevent such a crime. 

Do not speak to us, I beg of you, of the need of 
maintaining public order, nor of the burden on 
pubhc charity. Spare us this bitter irony. You 
are well aware that pubhc order is not menaced, 
and that every moral and civil influence would 
spontaneously cooperate with you if public 
order were endangered. The "unemployed" are 
not a burden on official charity, and it is not from 
your finances that they derive support. 

Consider whether it is not to the interest of 
Germany, as well as to your own, to respect the 
pledges signed by two high officials of your 
Empire. 

I feel confident that my petitions to the Gov- 
ernor-General and you will not be misinterpreted 
or misunderstood, and beg to remain. 
Yours respectfully, 
(Signed) D. J. Cardinal Mercier 

Archbishop of Malines 
Baron von der Lancken, 

Chief of the Political Department, Brussels. 

On October 26, Governor-General von Bis- 
sing sent Cardinal Mercier a letter which left 



152 CARDINAL MERCIER 

no doubt in the mind of His Eminence that the 
German authorities had resolved to continue the 
wholesale deportations of Belgian citizens. This 
document was sent in French and in German. The 
following is a translation of the authentic French 
text. 

General von Bissings Answer to His Eminence 
Cardinal Mercier 

Brussels, October 26, 1916. 

Your Eminence: 

In your favor of October 19, Your Eminence 
has requested that Belgian "unemployed" should 
not be transported to Germany. While fully 
appreciating Your Eminence's point of view, I 
feel it my duty to answer that you have not 
considered all the aspects of the very difficult 
problem of "unemployment" in Belgium. This 
is especially the case with regard to certain quite 
abnormal circumstances, which have been brought 
about by two years of warfare and which Your 
Eminence has not considered in all their bearing. 
The measures which you wish countermanded 
are only the expression of an imperious necessity, 
and an inevitable consequence of the war. Of 
this you will find an explanation below. 

Your Eminence begins your letter by recalling 
the declarations which were made by my prede- 
cessor and the Military Governor of Antwerp 
in October, 1914. These declarations referred 



BELGIUM ENSLAVED 1 53 

to facts directly linked with the military opera- 
tions. They related to Belgians who were subject 
to military service, and who, in accordance with 
the generally accepted customs of warfare, could 
not have been brought as civil prisoners to Ger- 
many. At this period England and France were 
removing from neutral ships sailing on the high 
seas all Germans between the ages of seventeen 
and fifty years and interning them in concentra- 
tion camps. Germany has not applied the same 
measure to Belgium. The declarations made to 
Your Eminence to enable you to reassure the 
population have been strictly observed. In any 
case, these declarations were a proof of the good 
intentions with which the German Governor- 
Generals undertook the administration of the 
occupied territory. In view of the clandestine 
and wholesale emigration of young Belgians to 
rejoin the Belgian army, the German authorities 
would have been completely justified in following 
the example of England and France. They have 
not done so. The utilization of Belgian "unem- 
ployed" in Germany, which is being inaugurated 
only after two years of warfare, difi^ers essentially 
from throwing men of military age into captivity. 
The measure has nothing at all to do with the 
conduct of the war, properly speaking, but is 
occasioned by social and economic conditions. 

The economic isolation of Germany — a policy 
which England has pursued mercilessly and with 



154 CARDINAL MERCIER 

the utmost vigor — has extended to and pressed 
ever more heavily on Belgium. Belgian industry 
and commerce, which depend largely on the im- 
portation of raw materials and the export of 
manufactured goods, were vitally injured. The in- 
evitable consequence was the lack of work for 
the mass of the population. The system of grant- 
ing subventions, which were allowed on a large 
scale to the "unemployed," might be acceptable 
in the case of a war of short duration. The long 
duration of the war fostered an abuse of these 
grants, and introduced a condition of affairs 
which is intolerable from the social standpoint. 
As early as the spring of 191 5 far-seeing Belgians 
approached me and pointed out the perils of the 
situation. They emphasized the fact that, no 
matter who might furnish the funds at present, 
the grants would ultimately become a burden 
on the resources of Belgium. They pointed out, 
moreover, that the grants are encouraging the 
workers to give themselves over and accustom 
themselves to idleness. The inevitable conse- 
quence of the prolongation of "unemployment" 
would be the moral and physical deterioration 
of the workers. Skilled workmen, especially, 
would lose their technical aptitude for their trades, 
and would grow useless for industry in coming 
times of peace. In accordance with these repre- 
sentations and in collaboration with the competent 
Belgian department, my Orders of August, 1915, 



BELGIUM ENSLAVED I 55 

against deliberate "unemployment" were framed. 
These ordinances were completed by the Order 
of May I, 1916, and provided for compulsion 
only when a workman refuses, without a valid 
reason, to undertake at proper wages a work 
suited to his ability, and thus becomes a charge 
on public charity. Every refusal based on the 
right of nations is formally recognized as valid. 
Consequently, no workman can be compelled to 
participate in works connected with the war. 
Your Eminence will recognize that these Orders 
are based on sound principles of legislation, which, 
it is true, place general interests above individual 
liberty. The social sores, which made their 
appearance in 191 5, having developed into a 
public calamity, it is now our duty to apply 
efficaciously the Orders in question. 

Your Eminence invokes the high ideal of family 
virtues in your letter. I may be permitted to 
answer that, like Your Eminence, I rate this ideal 
very highly, but for this reason I must also de- 
clare that the working classes would be in the 
gravest danger of losing sight of all ideals, if we 
tolerated a condition which would inevitably 
grow worse. For idleness is the worst enemy of 
family life. Men who work for their families at 
a distance from their homes — a condition which 
has always existed among Belgian workmen — 
undoubtedly contribute more to the well-being 
of their famihes than the "unemployed" who 



156 CARDINAL MERCIER 

remain at home. Men who undertake work in 
Germany can maintain their relations with their 
famihes. At regular intervals they are given 
leave of absence to return to their homes. They 
can bring their families to Germany, where also 
they will find priests who know their language. 

Using their simple common sense, a large 
number of the people have already recognized 
these facts, and tens of thousands of Belgian 
workmen have gone of their own free will to 
Germany. There, placed on a level with German 
workmen, they earn high wages which they have 
never known in Belgium. Instead of sinking 
into misery, as their comrades who remained at 
home have done, they are improving their own 
condition and that of their families. A large 
number of others would like to follow their 
example, but do not dare to do so, because influ- 
ences brought systematically to bear upon them 
make them hesitate. If they do not rid them- 
selves of these influences within a reasonable 
time, they must submit to compulsion. The 
responsibility for whatever rigorous measures 
are then taken, which might have been avoided, 
must fall on those who have prevented them from 
working. To enable Your Eminence to judge 
the situation in its entirety, I ask you to con- 
sider the following explanations which are the 
very essence of the problem: 

The isolation policy adopted by England has 



BELGIUM ENSLAVED . 1 57 

necessarily resulted in the establishment of a 
community of economic interests between the 
occupied territories and Germany, and Germany 
is practically the only country with which Belgium 
can have commercial relations. Although the 
practice is common between enemy countries, 
Germany has not refused to make payments in 
Belgium, and consequently German money is 
always entering the country. The wages of 
Belgians working in Germany increase this flow 
still further. Besides, the occupation itself re- 
sults in a constant movement of money to Bel- 
gium, and to this must be added the war levies 
which, in accordance with the estabHshed and 
recognized principle, are spent exclusively in the 
country. The community of interests resulting 
from existing conditions imposes on both parties, 
by the very logic of things, the necessity of ex- 
change and of maintaining a proper equilibrium 
between the elements of economic life. Hun- 
dreds of thousands of workmen being idle in 
Belgium while there is a shortage of labor in 
Germany, it becomes both a social and economic 
duty to employ the Belgian "unemployed" in 
productive work in Germany. This is necessi- 
tated by the community of interests. If there is 
any objection to be offered to this condition of 
things, it should be addressed to England, which 
has created the necessity by its policy of isolation. 
Your Eminence will see from the foregoing 



158 CARDINAL MERCIER 

that the problem is very complex. I should feel 

a deep satisfaction if, after my explanation, you 

would examine the problem from the social and 

economic standpoint. 

Yours most respectfully 

(Signed) Frh. von Bissing 

Lieutenant-General 

His Eminence, Cardinal Mercier, 
Archbishop of Malines, Malines. 

The above letter showed clearly that the German 
authorities had no intention of acceding to the 
legitimate complaints of the Belgian people. 
The deportations continued with that pitiless 
regularity which characterizes even the harshest 
measures of the Berlin Government, as if the 
sufferings and complaints of tens of thousands 
of men, women, and innocent children counted 
as nothing with the occupying Power. The only 
resort of the Belgian bishops was to direct public 
opinion towards the vexatious measures taken by 
the invader. On November 7, therefore, the 
Belgian bishops issued the Appeal to Public 
Opinion. 

Appeal of the Belgian Bishops to Public Opinion 

Malines, November 7, 1916. 

The military authorities are deporting daily 
from Belgium to Germany thousands of inoffensive 
citizens and there assigning them to forced labor. 



BELGIUM ENSLAVED I 59 

On October 19, we sent the Governor-General 
a protest, copies of which were sent to the repre- 
sentatives of the Holy See, Spain, the United States, 
and Holland at Brussels. The Governor-General 
replied that it was impossible to grant our petition. 
At the time of our protest the ordinances of the 
occupying Power menaced only the "unem- 
ployed." To-day, all able-bodied men are being 
taken away indiscriminately, herded into wagons, 
and deported no one knows where, like a troop 
of slaves. The work of the enemy is proceeding 
by districts. A vague rumor had reached our 
ears that arrests had been made in the depots at 
Tournai, at Ghent, and at Alost, but we did not 
know under what conditions. Between October 
24 and November 2 the enemy was active in 
the region of Mons, Quievrain, Saint-Ghislain, 
Jemappes, drafts of from eight hundred to twelve 
hundred men being arrested daily. To-morrow 
and the following days the district of Nivelles 
will be descended on. Here is a copy of the 
notice announcing the outrage: 

"By order of the Kreischef all persons of the 
male sex of over seventeen years of age are sum- 
moned to be present at the Place St. Paul, Ni- 
velles, November 8, 1916, at eight o'clock 
(H. B.), nine o'clock (H. C.), bringing their 
identification cards, and also (if they possess 
them) their Meldeamt cards. 

"Only small hand baggage may be brought. 



l6o CARDINAL MERCIER 

"Anyone who does not present himself will be 
forcibly deported to Germany, and will be liable 
besides to a heavy fine and long imprisonment. 

"Ecclesiastics, doctors, lawyers, and teachers 
are not required to present themselves. 

"The burgomasters will be held responsible 
for the proper execution of this order, which 
must be brought immediately to the attention of 
the inhabitants." 

There is an interval of twenty-four hours 
between the posting of the notice and the 
deportation. 

Under the pretext that certain public works 
had to be executed on Belgian soil, the occupying 
Power had endeavored to obtain from the com- 
munes the lists of " unemployed " workmen. Most 
of the communes proudly refused to supply this 
information. 

Three Orders of the Governor-General were 
issued to prepare the way for the blow which 
strikes us to-day. 

On August 15, 191 5, the first Order imposed 
compulsory labor on all "unemployed" under 
penalty of a fine and imprisonment, but declared 
that they would be engaged only on works in 
Belgium, and that infringements of the decree 
would be tried by Belgian tribunals. 

A second Order, of May 2, 1916, reserves to 
the German authorities the right of furnishing 
work for the "unemployed," and threatens with 



BELGIUM ENSLAVED l6l 

a penalty of three years' imprisonment and a fine 
of 20,000 marks, any person who shall have any 
works executed which are not authorized by the 
Governor-General. By virtue of this same Order, 
the competence to try infringements of the 
Order is transferred from Belgian to German 
tribunals. 

A third Order, dated May 13, 1916, "author- 
izes the Governors, military commanders, and 
district chiefs, to order the 'unemployed' to be 
forcibly conducted to the places where they are 
to work." This was, true enough, forced labor, 
but always on Belgian territory. 

To-day it is no longer forced labor in Belgium 
but in Germany and for the benefit of the Ger- 
mans. And, to give an outward semblance of 
plausibility to its violent measures, the occupy- 
ing Power cites the following two pretexts in the 
German press of Germany and Belgium: The 
"unemployed" are a menace to public order, 
and a charge on official charity. 

These allegations have been answered in the 
letter which we addressed to the Governor-General 
and the Chief of his political department on 
October 19: 

"You are well aware that public order is not 
menaced, and that every moral and civil influence 
would spontaneously cooperate with you if 
public order were endangered. 

"The 'unemployed' are not a burden on official 



l62 CARDINAL MERCIER 

charity, and it is not from your finances that they 
derive support." 

In his reply, the Governor-General no longer 
invokes these two considerations, but alleges 
that the grants to the "unemployed," from what- 
soever source they may come at present, must 
eventually be a burden on our finances, and that 
it is the task of a good administrator to relieve 
them of these charges. He adds that "the pro- 
longation of 'unemployment' would deprive our 
workmen of their technical aptitude, and that 
they would grow useless for industry in coming 
times of peace." 

There were, it is true, other means to protect 
our finances — for example, by sparing us war 
levies which have already attained a thousand- 
millions, and are mounting at the rate of forty 
miUions a month; by sparing us requisitions in 
kind, which already amount to several thousand 
milhons, and are exhausting our country. 

There were other means available for preserving 
the skill of our trained workmen — for example, 
by leaving Belgian industry its machinery and 
accessories, its raw materials and the manufac- 
tured products which have been sent from Bel- 
gium to Germany. Nor is it in the quarries or 
lime-kilns, to which the Germans declare they 
will send our "unemployed," that our specialists 
will perfect their professional education. 

The naked truth is that every deported work- 



BELGIUM ENSLAVED 163 

man means a soldier added to the German army, 
for he will take the place of a German workman 
who will be made into a soldier. 

Consequently, the situation which we denounce 
to the civilized world may be reduced to these 
terms: Four hundred thousand workers are re- 
duced to "unemployment" through no fault of 
their own and largely because of the German 
occupation. Sons, husbands, and fathers, they 
bear their unhappy lot unmurmuringly and 
respect public order. Provision for their most 
pressing needs has been made, thanks to our 
national solidarity. By dint of parsimony and 
generous self-denial, they are saved from extreme 
misery, and are awaiting with dignity the end of 
our common trial, safe in the intimacy which is 
fostered by national grief. 

Gangs of soldiers force their way into these 
peaceful households, and tear the young men 
from their parents, the husband from his wife, 
the father from his children. At the point of the 
bayonet, the soldiers prevent wives and mothers 
from throwing themselves into the arms of the 
departing ones to bid them a last adieu. The 
captives are ranged in groups of forty or fifty, 
and forcibly hoisted into railroad wagons. The 
locomotive is under steam, and, as soon as the 
train is filled, an officer gives the signal to start. 
Another thousand Belgians have been reduced 
to slavery, and, without a preliminary trial, have 



164 CARDINAL MERCIER 

been condemned to the severest punishment in 
the penal code except death — deportation. They 
do not know whither they are going, nor how long 
their absence will endure. All they know is that 
their work will benefit only the enemy. In several 
cases, by bribes or threats, a contract, which 
the Germans venture to describe as "voluntary," 
has been extorted from the exiles. 

Furthermore, while the "unemployed" are 
indeed enrolled, a large number of others who 
have never been unemployed, and belong to the 
most varied professions, have been also recruited. 
This latter class, which formed twenty-five per 
cent of the total in the district of Mons, includes 
butchers, bakers, foremen-tailors, brass workers, 
electricians and farmers. Even the very young 
were taken — students in colleges, universities and 
other high schools. 

And yet two high officials of the German Em- 
pire had formally guaranteed us the liberty of our 
fellow-citizens. 

On the day after the capitulation of Antwerp, 
the distracted population was asking what would 
become of Belgians who were of military age, or 
who would attain such age before the end of the 
occupation. Baron von Huene, Military Governor 
of Antwerp, then authorized me to reassure 
anxious parents in his name. Nevertheless, as it 
was rumored in Antwerp that young men had been 
seized at Liege, Namur, and Charleroi and de- 



BELGIUM ENSLAVED 165 

ported to Germany, I begged Governor von 
Huene to confirm in writing the guarantees which 
he had given me verbally. He answered that the 
rumors of deportations were groundless, and gave 
me without hesitation the written statement 
which was read in all the parish churches of the 
Province of Antwerp, on Sunday, October 18, 
1914: *'Young men need have no fear of being 
sent to Germany, either to be enrolled in the 
army there, or to be employed at forced labor." 

On the arrival of Baron von der Goltz in Brus- 
sels, in the capacity of Governor-General, I went 
and asked him to ratify for the whole country, 
and without any limitation of time, the pledges 
already granted by Governor von Heune for the 
Province of Antwerp. The Governor-General 
retained my petition to examine it at leisure. On 
the following day, he came in person to Malines, 
bringing his approval and, in the presence of two 
aides-de-camp and my private secretary, con- 
firmed the promise that the liberty of Belgian 
citizens would be respected. 

In my letter of October 19 last to Baron von 
Bissing, after reminding him of the pledges given 
by his predecessor, I concluded: 

"Your Excellency will appreciate how heavy 
would be the weight of my responsibility towards 
families if the confidence which they have re- 
posed in you through my intervention and on 
my recommendation were lamentably deceived." 



1 66 CARDINAL MERCIER 

The Governor-General replied: "The utiliza- 
tion of Belgian 'unemployed' in Germany, which 
is being inaugurated only after two years of war- 
fare, differs essentially from throwing men of 
military age into captivity. The measure has 
nothing at all to do with the conduct of the 
war, properly speaking, but is occasioned by 
social and economic conditions." 

As if the word of an honest man were annulable 
at the end of one or two years, like an officer's 
lease! 

As if the declaration confirmed in 1914 did not 
expressly exclude military operations and forced 
labor! 

As if, in fine, every Belgian workman, who takes 
the place of a German, did not allow the latter to 
fill a gap in the German army! 

We pastors of those flocks which are being torn 
from us by brutal force, are filled with anguish 
at the idea of the moral and rehgious isolation 
in which our flocks will languish. Impotent wit- 
nesses of the grief and terror of so many destroyed 
and menaced households, we appeal to believers 
and non-believers alike — among our Allies, in 
neutral countries, and even among our enemies — 
who retain a respect for human dignity. 

When Cardinal Lavigerie undertook his cam- 
paign against slavery. Pope Leo XIII, while 
blessing his mission, said: "Opinion is more than 
ever the queen of the world; you should act 



BELGIUM ENSLAVED 167 

through it. Through pubHc opinion alone will 
you attain victory." 

May the Divine Providence graciously inspire 
all who possess authority, • a word or a pen, to 
rally around our humble Belgian flag for the 
abolition of European slavery! 

May the conscience of man triumph over all 
sophisms, and remain unalterably faithful to the 
great maxim of St. Ambrose: Honor above all! 
Nihil prcsferendum honestati! 

In the name of the Belgian Bishops, ^ 
(Signed) D. J. Card. Mercier 

Archbishop of Malines 

In his letter of October 26 to Cardinal 
Mercier, the Governor-General endeavored to 
justify the measures adopted in Belgium by 
having recourse to all kinds of sophisms and 
subterfuges, for example: the situation is no 
longer the same as it was two years ago; France 
and England are responsible for the deportations 
of Belgian workmen; the deportation of the 
"unemployed" is occasioned by social and eco- 
nomic considerations, and proves the interest we 
feel in these workmen; besides, it is England 
which, by its isolation policy, created the actual 
necessity for the deportations, etc., etc. 

Cardinal Mercier believed that he could not 
allow to go unanswered the false allegations and 

^ We were unable to get into communication with the Bishop of 
Bruges. 



1 68 CARDINAL MERCIER 

calumnies about Belgian workmen contained in 
the above-mentioned letter. He therefore wrote 
the following letter to Baron von Bissing on 
November lo, 1916. 

Second Letter of His Eminence^ Cardinal. 
Mercier, to Governor-General von Bissing 

Archdiocese of Malines, 
Malines, November lo, 1916. 

Sir: 

I refrain from expressing to Your Excel- 
lency the sentiments aroused in me by your 
letter (I, 1005 1), written in answer to that 
which I had the honor to address to you on 
October 19 on the subject of the deportation 
of the "unemployed." 

I have a melancholy recollection of the words 
which Your Excellency pronounced in my pres- 
ence on his arrival in Brussels, emphasizing every 
syllable: "I hope that our relations will be 
loyal. ... I have been given the mission of 
dressing the wounds of Belgium." 

My letter of October 19 reminded Your 
Excellency of the pledge given by Baron von 
Huene, Military Governor of Antwerp, and rati- 
fied some days later by Baron von der Goltz, 
your predecessor as Governor-General at Brussels. 
The pledge was explicit, absolute and without 
Hmitation as to time: "Young men need have no 
fear of being sent to Germany, there either to be 



BELGIUM ENSLAVED 169 

enrolled in the army or to he employed at forced 
labor." 

This pledge has been violated thousands of 
times daily during the last fortnight. 

Baron von Huene and the late Baron von der 
Goltz made no such condition, as your dispatch 
of October 26 would suggest: "If the occupa- 
tion does not last more than two years, men of 
military age will not be sent into captivity." 
They stated unconditionally that "young men, 
and, still more, men who have reached a mature 
age, will not be imprisoned, nor subjected to 
forced labor, at any time during the period of the 
occupation." 

To justify himself. Your Excellency adduces 
the conduct of England and France, which 
have, Your Excellency states, "removed all 
Germans between the ages of seventeen and fifty 
from neutral vessels and interned them in con- 
centration camps." 

If England and France had committed an in- 
justice, your vengeance should be directed against 
the English and French, and not against an 
inoffensive and disarmed people. But has there 
been an injustice? We are ill informed as to what 
happens outside the walls of our prison, but we 
feel greatly tempted to believe that the Ger- 
mans so seized and interned belonged to the re- 
serve forces of the Imperial army. They were 
thus soldiers whom England and France were 



170 CARDINAL MERCIER 

justified in sending to the concentration camps. 
Only since August, 191 3, has Belgium inaugurated 
universal military service for all her citizens. 

Belgians between the ages of seventeen and 
fifty years, now residing in the occupied part of 
Belgium, are thus civilians and non-combatants. 
It is playing with words to compare them to 
German reservists by applying to them the 
equivocal phrase: "men liable to military service." 

The Orders, notices and press comments, 
which were intended to prepare public opinion 
for the measures now being put into execution, 
relied mainly on two points: The "unemployed," 
it was affirmed, are a danger to public safety, 
and they are a charge on official charity. 

As already stated in my letter of October 19, 
it is not true that our workmen have disturbed, 
or even threatened anywhere, public order. Five 
millions of Belgians and hundreds of Ameri- 
cans are astonished witnesses of the dignity and 
unwavering patience of our working class. 

It is not true that our "unemployed" are a 
charge either on the occupying Power or on the 
charity provided by its Administration. The 
National Committee, in which the occupying 
Power has no active participation, is the sole 
provider of support for the innocent victims of 
forced "unemployment." 

These two statements, made already in my 
previous letter, have remained unanswered. 



BELGIUM ENSLAVED I71 

Your letter of October 26 attempts another 
method of justification. It alleges that the 
measures against the "unemployed" were neces- 
sitated by "social" and "economic" reasons. 
Because it has a warmer and more intelligent 
devotion to the interests of the Belgian nation 
than we, the German Government is rescuing 
the workman from idleness and preventing him 
from losing his technical aptitude. Forced labor 
is the exchange value of the economical ad- 
vantages which we derive from our commercial 
relations with the Empire. 

Finally, if Belgium has any complaints to make 
with regard to her condition, let her address them 
to England, who is the chief culprit. "It is she 
who, by her policy of isolation, has occasioned 
this necessity." 

A few brief and frank statements will be suf- 
ficient answer to this pleading, which is halting 
and complicated in the original letter. 

Every Belgian workman will release a German 
workman, who will be one soldier more for the 
German army. There, in all its simplicity, is 
the dominating fact of the situation. The writer 
of the letter himself appreciates this vital fact, 
for he states: "The measure has nothing at all 
to do with the war, -properly speaking.'^ It has 
thus some connection with the war "improperly 
speaking;" and what does this mean except that, 
while the Belgian workman does not actually 



172 CARDINAL MERCIER 

bear arms, he releases a German worker who will 
bear them? The Belgian workman is compelled 
to cooperate, indirectly but evidently, in the 
war against his own country. This is in mani- 
fest contradiction to the spirit of the Hague 
Convention. 

Again, the lack of "employment" has not been 
caused by the Belgian workman or England; it 
is the effect of the German regime of occupation. 

The occupying Power has taken possession of 
large quantities of raw materials destined for 
our national industries. It has seized and sent 
to Germany machinery, tools, and metals from 
our mills and workshops. With the possibility 
of national industry thus destroyed, the work- 
man is faced with the alternative of working for 
the German Empire — here or in Germany — 
or of remaining idle. To the regret of the ma- 
jority, some tens of thousands of workmen have 
undertaken work for the foreign Government 
under the pressure of fear or hunger. But four 
hundred thousand working men and women pre- 
ferred "unemployment," with its privations, to the 
betrayal of the interests of their native land, and 
these live in poverty and dependence on the 
meager assistance given them by the National 
Relief Committee, which is controlled by the 
ministers of Spain, America, and Holland. Calm 
and deserving, they bear their hard lot unmur- 
muringly. Nowhere has there been a revolt, or 



BELGIUM ENSLAVED 173 

a semblance of a revolt. Employers and work- 
men courageously await the end of their long 
trial. 

The communal administrations and private 
individuals tried to diminish the undeniable 
evils of "unemployment," but the occupying 
Power paralyzed their efforts. The National 
Committee tried to organize technical instruc- 
tion for the "unemployed." This practical in- 
struction, while respecting the dignity of our 
workmen, was to preserve their skill, increase 
their capabilities, and prepare them to do their 
part in the rebuilding of their country. Who 
opposed this noble movement, after the plans 
had been worked out by our industrial leaders? 
The occupying Power. Nevertheless, the com- 
munes strove to have works of public utility 
executed by the "unemployed." The Governor- 
General made these works conditional on an 
official authorization, which was then, as a rule, 
refused. The cases are not rare, I am assured, 
in which the Government authorized works of 
this nature on the express condition that they 
were not entrusted to the "unemployed." 

"Unemployment" was thus desired. An army 
of "unemployed" was being recruited. And, in 
face of these facts, they dare to apply to our 
workingmen the insulting appellative, "idler." 

No, the Belgian workman is not an idler. He 
is devoted to his work. This he has proved in 



174 CARDINAL MERCIER 

the noble struggles of economic life. When he 
scorned the highly paid work offered him by the 
occupying Power, he was actuated by patriotic 
dignity. As pastor of our people, we share more 
intimately than ever its sorrows and distress, 
and know what it has cost at times to prefer inde- 
pendence in privation to comfort in subjection. 
Cast no stone at this people. It is entitled to 
your respect. 

Your letter of October 26 states that England 
is primarily responsible for the ''unemployment" 
of our workmen, because she has not allowed raw 
materials to enter Belgium. 

England generously allows foodstuffs to enter 
Belgium under the control of the neutral coun- 
tries — Spain, the United States, and Holland. 
She would assuredly allow the importation of the 
raw materials necessary for our industries under 
the same control, if Germany would bind herself 
to leave them to us and not seize the products of 
our industrial labor. 

But Germany, by divers methods (notably, by 
the organization of its Zentral-Stellerij in which 
neither the Belgians nor the neutral officers can 
exercise an effective control), is absorbing a 
considerable part of the products of our agri- 
culture and industrial plants. There thus results 
a disquieting increase in the cost of living, which 
is causing grave privations for those who have no 
savings. The "community of interests," whose 



BELGIUM ENSLAVED 175 

great value for us is lauded in your letter, is not 
the normal equilibrium of commercial exchanges, 
but the predominance of the strong over the 
weak. Do not, I beg of you, represent this state 
of inferiority to which we are reduced as a privi- 
lege which would justify forced work for our enemy, 
and the deportation of legions of innocent people 
into exile. 

Slavery and deportation, the hardest punish- 
ment in the penal code after death — has Bel- 
gium, which never did you an evil, merited from 
you this treatment, which calls to Heaven for 
vengeance ? 

Sir, at the beginning of my letter, I recalled 
the noble utterance of Your Excellency: "I have 
come to Belgium with the mission of dressing 
your country's wounds." 

If Your Excellency, like our priests, could visit 
the homes of our workmen and hear the lamenta- 
tions of wives and mothers, for whom your ordi- 
nances spell mourning and dread, you would 
realize better how gaping are the wounds of the 
Belgian people. 

Two years ago, people are saying, we faced 
death, pillage, and conflagration, but it was war. 
To-day it is no longer war; it is cold calculation, 
premeditated destruction, the victory of might 
over right, the debasement of human nature, a 
defiance of humanity. 

It is within the power of Your Excellency to 



176 CARDINAL MERCIER 

Stifle these outcries of outraged conscience. May 
God, whom we invoke with all the ardor of our 
soul on behalf of our oppressed people, inspire 
in you the pity of the Good Samaritan! 
Yours most respectfully, 
(Signed) D. J. Cardinal Mercier 

Archbishop of Malines 

His Excellency, Baron von Bissing, 
Governor-General, Brussels. 

On November 23, Governor-General von 
Bissing sent His Eminence, Cardinal Mercier, 
the following answer, which is translated from 
the German text. 

Governor-General von Bissing*s Answer to the 
Second Letter of His Eminence, Cardinal Mercier 

The Governor-General of Belgium, P. A. L 11254. 
Brussels, NoTiember 23, 1916. 

Your Eminence: 

I have the honor to acknowledge receipt of 
Your Eminence's favor of the loth inst., as also 
of the manuscript letter of the 15th inst. con- 
cerning the delay in delivery. I wish to reply 
as follows. 

On October 19 of this year. Your Eminence 
sent me a petition with a view to having a stop 
put to the employment in Germany of idle Bel- 
gian workmen. In my reply of October 28, 
while appreciating at its proper value the point 
of view which you take, I explained the reasons 



BELGIUM ENSLAVED I77 

and the considerations which compelled the occu- 
pying Power to take certain steps in connection 
with the question of the workmen. These meas- 
ures were not the result of arbitrary judgment or 
of an insufficient study of the difficult problem, 
but were adopted after an exhaustive examination 
of the circumstances involved, and in face of a 
necessity which must be recognized as unavoidable. 
As regards the general aspects of the question, I 
thus find myself obliged to refer Your Eminence 
to my statements of October 28. Your objections 
to these statements either rest on erroneous inter- 
pretation of them, or are the result of conceptions 
of which I cannot approve in their essence. 
For "unemployment," which has attained consid- 
erable proportions in Belgium, is a great social 
wound, while it is a social benefit for the Belgian 
workers to be put to work in Germany. It is 
true that, on my arrival in Belgium, I told Your 
Eminence I wished to heal the wounds which war 
had caused among the Belgian people; but the 
measures now taken are not in contradiction to 
these words. I may also say that Your Eminence 
misinterprets facts when you try to ignore my 
frequently successful efforts to reestablish eco- 
nomic life in Belgium by remarking that an artifi- 
cial "unemployment" has been thereby created. 
England has imposed unacceptable conditions on 
the importation of raw materials into Belgium 
and the export of manufactured goods. During 



lyS CARDINAL MERCIER 

the war these questions have been the subject 
of serious negotiations with competent persons 
of both Belgian nationaHty and neutral nations, 
but it would be too tedious to explain them here. 
I can only repeat that, in the last analysis, the 
deplorable conditions are a result of England's 
isolation policy, just as the requisition of raw 
materials were an inevitable consequence of the 
same policy. I must also absolutely maintain 
that, from the economic standpoint, the occupy- 
ing Power is guaranteeing Belgium all the ad- 
vantages that can be assured her in the face of 
the constraint exercised by England. 

The execution of the measures taken in con- 
nection with the "unemployed" has caused my 
administration many difficulties, which in turn 
entail hardship for the population. All this 
hardship might have been avoided if the communal 
administrations had cooperated properly with us 
in rendering the execution more simple and better 
adapted to the end proposed. Under existing 
conditions it has been necessary to extend the 
measures to a wider circle so as to bring within 
their scope a larger number of persons. Every 
possible precaution has, however, been taken to 
diminish the number of errors. Definite cate- 
gories of persons, determined by their occupation, 
are relieved of the obligation of presenting them- 
selves, and individual complaints are examined 
immediately or adjourned for further examination. 



BELGIUM ENSLAVED 179 

Your Eminence will see from the above state- 
ments that it is impossible to grant your request 
of repealing the measures which have been taken, 
but that, in the application of these measures, 
nothing that it is possible to do in the public 
interest is being left undone, in spite of the 
difficulties which have arisen. 

Yours most respectfully, 

{Signed) Frh. von Bissing 

Lieutenant-General 
His Eminence, Cardinal Mercier, 
Archbishop of Malines, Malines. 

Despite the numerous protests and petitions 
of the civil powers in Belgium, despite the Appeal 
of the Belgian Bishops to Public Opinion, despite 
the strong letters of protest addressed by Cardinal 
Mercier to the German authorities, the enemy 
continued the deportations in contravention of 
all rights and treaties. The intrepid Cardinal of 
Malines spent three days paying consolatory 
visits to families which had been reduced to the 
depths of physical and moral misery by the iniqui- 
tous measures of an enemy devoid of every senti- 
ment of pity and humanity. No longer able to 
restrain the indignation provoked by so much 
suflFering and so much injustice, His Eminence 
resolved to attack publicly the violation of the 
rights of the workmen, to proclaim that injus- 
tice "resting on force remains none the less in- 
justice," to declare the deep sorrow of the bishops 



l8o CARDINAL MERCIER 

at the sufferings of their flocks, and to urge his 
fellow-countrymen to await in patience and dignity 
peace with victory. 

On November 26, 1916, the Cardinal de- 
livered the following sermon in the Church of 
Sainte Gudule at Brussels on the occasion of the 
Mass prescribed in honor of Our Lady of Help 
for the intentions of the deported and their 
families : 

FOR THOSE IN CJPTIFITT 

"Ye shall be My disciples indeed, and ye shall know the truth, and 
the truth shall make you free." — John viii. 32-33. 

My Very Dear Brethren: 

The four or five weeks which have just gone 
by are probably the most unhappy of my life 
and the most heartbreaking of my episcopal 
service. The fathers and mothers who are 
gathered round this pulpit will understand 
me. 

The office of the bishop is a spiritual father- 
hood. St. Paul even called it a motherhood when 
he wrote to the Galatians: "My little children, of 
whom I am in labor again, until Christ be formed 
m you. ^ 

Now I have seen hundreds of my flock in danger 
and in grief. For three days, last Sunday, Mon- 
day, Tuesday, morning and evening, I have been 
traveling through those parts of the country 

^ Galatians iv. 19. 



BELGIUM ENSLAVED l8l 

whence the first laborers and workmen of my 
diocese were forcibly carried into exile. At Wavre, 
Court St. Etienne, Nivelles, Tubize, Braine- 
I'Alleud, I entered more than a hundred homes that 
are now half empty. The husband was gone, the 
children were orphaned, the sisters sat at their 
sewing machines, with haggard eyes and hands 
that were incapable of work. A gloomy silence 
reigned in every cottage. You might have fan- 
cied that there was a dead body within. 

But hardly could we say one kind word to the 
mother before the sobs broke out, and with them 
words of sorrow and anger, and magnificent out- 
bursts of pride. 

The memory of these heartbreaking scenes will 
never leave me. 

I would willingly have hastened to Antwerp, 
Tirlemont, Aerschot, Diest, wherever I might 
have found them repeated, wherever I might have 
found sorrow to soothe, tears to dry, or hearts 
to comfort. 

But I could not do it. My strength and my 
time alike failed me. 

And so, dear Brethren, I resolved to come to 
you, here at the center of my diocese and of our 
country. You shall become the missionaries of 
my thoughts, you shall make my feelings known. 

Pax vobiscum is the traditional greeting of the 
bishop — Peace be with you — and so I bring 
you now a word of peace. 



l82 CARDINAL MERCIER 

But there can be no peace without order, and 
order reposes upon justice and charity. 

We desire order, and it is for this reason that, 
from the first, we have begged that no active 
resistance be offered to the Power that is in 
occupation of our country and that all its regula- 
tions be implicitly obeyed, so long as they offend 
against neither our conscience as Christians nor 
our honor as Belgians. But that Power must 
also desire order, that is to say, it must respect 
our rights and its own promises. 

In every civilized country the citizen has a 
right to work freely. He has a right to his home. 
He has a right to refuse his services to any but 
his own country. 

Regulations which infringe these rights can bind 
our conscience in no way. 

I tell you this, my Brethren, without anger 
and in no spirit of vengeance. I were unworthy 
of this ring which the Church has put upon my 
finger, of this cross which she has placed upon 
my breast, if I yielded to human weakness and 
hesitated to declare that, though they be violated, 
rights remain rights, and that injustice which 
reposes upon force is none the less injustice. 

There can be no order without justice; none 
without charity. Charity is Union. And Union 
is the Law of Man, the law of the three-fold 
domain of life in which Nature and Faith give 
him his being and his growth, the Family, the 



BELGIUM ENSLAVED 183 

Country, and the Fellowship of all Christian 
people. 

Every man's duty is to his country, and it is 
the duty of every class to cooperate with the 
others for the national welfare. 

The Christian belongs to his diocese. To the 
Catholic Church, his mother, he is bound through 
his bishop alone. 

And it is on this account, my Brethren, that 
to-day your bishops' hearts are bleeding. They 
have seen thousands of their sons dragged be- 
yond the reach of their pastoral care, driven 
towards the unknown, lost sheep without a 
shepherd, a prey to the dangers of isolation, im- 
potent fury, perhaps of despair. 

And a great event of history presents itself to 
their memory. When Pope Pius VII was in 
captivity at Savona, he put his trust in his Heav- 
enly Mother, whom, since the victory of Lepanto, 
Europe had named "Our Lady, Help of Chris- 
tians." The day after he had been set free, the 
Holy Father was constrained to demonstrate his 
own piety and the gratitude of Christendom by 
instituting a yearly festival to the glory of Our 
Lady of Help. 

We also offer, through the mediation of the 
most Holy Virgin Mary, our humble 'entreaties 
to the Sovereign Lord "who reigneth in the 
Heavens and on whom all the Kingdoms of the 
Earth depend," to restore to us quickly our 



184 CARDINAL MERCIER 

captive workers, and to keep our homes still in- 
violate until the day when we shall all, in the 
peace of victory, embrace one another around the 
triumphant altar of our Lady of Ransom. 

Courage, then, my brothers — keep the com- 
mandments of Christ. Be loyal to Belgium, your 
Homeland. 

From the depths of my heart I give you all my 
paternal blessing. 

It may well be understood that this bold and 
patriotic address, which emphasizes the fact that 
right and might are not synonymous, contributed 
greatly to sustain the admirable courage of the 
people and to soften the unmerited sufferings of 
the unfortunate victims of the iniquitous invader. 
It could not prevent the continued violation of 
right by might. With a pitiless brutality, which 
might have been dispensed with in the execution 
of measures already sufficiently cruel, "unem- 
ployed" and employed continued to be torn from 
their families and deported to Germany. 

Wishing to make one more effort to help his 
unfortunate fellow-countrymen, the Cardinal of 
Malines sent another letter to the Governor- 
General on November 29, denouncing the 
arbitrary and inhuman procedure of the Ger- 
mans and appealing to the supreme authorities 
of the empire. 



BELGIUM ENSLAVED I85 

Third Letter of His Eminence, Cardinal Mercier, 

to Governor-General von Bissing 

Archdiocese of Malines, 
Malines, November 29, 1916. 

Sir: 

The letter of November 23 (I, 11254), with 
which Your Excellency has honored me, is a dis- 
appointment to me. In several circles, which I 
had reason for believing very well-informed, it 
was said that Your Excellency thought it a duty 
to protest to the highest authorities of the Empire 
against the measures which you were compelled 
to apply in Belgium. I therefore expected at 
least a delay in the application of these measures, 
while they were being subjected to a further 
examination, and a softening of the methods 
which accompanied their execution. 

But, without answering a word to any of 
the arguments whereby I established the anti- 
juridical and anti-social character of the con- 
demnation of Belgian workmen to forced labor 
and deportation. Your Excellency contents him- 
self with repeating in his dispatch of November 
23 the very text of his letter of October 26. 
The two letters of October 26 and November 23 
are indeed identical in substance and almost 
identical in form. 

On the other hand, the recruiting of so-called 
"unemployed" is progressing for the most part 
without any regard for the opinions of the local 



l86 CARDINAL MERCIER 

authorities. Several reports in my possession 
prove that the clergy are brutally set aside, and 
the burgomasters and communal councillors re- 
duced to silence. The recruiting agents thus 
find themselves confronted with men of whom they 
know nothing, and arbitrarily make their choice. 

Of such procedure there are abundant ex- 
amples. I shall quote two very recent instances 
from the number which I hold at the disposal of 
Your Excellency. 

On November 21 the recruiting was held in 
the commune of Kesbeek-Miscom. Of the 1325 
inhabitants in the commune, the recruiters took 
away 94 en bloc, making no distinction of social 
condition or profession; farmers' sons, sole sup- 
port of aged and infirm parents, fathers whose 
departure left their wives and children in misery 
— all as necessary for their families as their 
daily bread. Two families were robbed at once 
of four sons each. Of the ninety-four deported 
only two were "unemployed." 

The recruiting in the district of Aerschot took 
place on November 23. At Rillaer, Gelrode, and 
Rotselaer, some young men who were sole sup- 
porters of widowed mothers were recruited. 
Farmers who were fathers of large families (one 
farmer, over fifty years of age, had ten children), 
cultivated their own land, possessed several head 
of cattle, and had never touched a cent of public 
charity, were also forcibly deported in spite of 



BELGIUM ENSLAVED I 87 

their protests. Twenty-five young lads of seventeen 
years were taken in the little commune of Rillaer. 

Your Excellency would have liked the com- 
munal authorities to become accomplices in these 
odious recruitings. By reason of their legal 
position and in conscience they could not do so. 
But they could enlighten the recruiting agencies, 
and are well qualified to do that. The priests, 
who know the poorer people better than anyone 
else does, would be of valuable assistance to the re- 
cruiting parties. Why is their cooperation spurned ? 

At the end of your letter, Your Excellency re- 
marks that men belonging to the hberal profes- 
sions are not disturbed. If only the "unemployed " 
were being led away, I should understand this 
distinction. But if the practice is continued by 
enrolling able-bodied men without exception, the 
distinction is unjustifiable. It would be wrong 
to have the burden of deportation fall on the 
working class alone. The middle class should 
have its share in the sacrifice imposed by the 
occupying Power on the nation, however cruel 
this sacrifice may be; in fact, it is all the more 
just for them to share in the sacrifice, when this 
is cruel. Numbers of my clergy have asked me 
to claim for them a place in the vanguard of the 
persecuted ones. I register their offer, and am 
proud to submit it to you. I am loath to believe 
that the authorities of the Empire have spoken 
their last words. They will think of our unde- 



1 88 CARDINAL MERCIER 

served sorrows, of the reprobation of the civiHzed 
world, of the judgment of history and the chas- 
tisement of God. 

Yours most respectfully, 
(Signed) D. J. Cardinal Mercier 

Archbishop of Malines 

His Excellency, Baron von Bissing, 

Governor-General, Brussels. 

Vain were all efforts, alas! 

And Cardinal Mercier — the glory of the valiant 
Belgian episcopate, one of the outstanding figures 
of the world, grander and more admired in pro- 
portion as his sorrows increase — goes from town 
to town, and village to village, consoling the old 
men, the women and the children, who are suffer- 
ing for justice' sake. 

How long will justice and right continue to be 
thus despised and violated with impunity? 

Instructions of His Eminence^ Cardinal Mercier, to 
the Clergy of his Diocese 

His visits to several hundred families of the 
deported workmen, and the reports of his clergy 
on the frequently brutal manner in which the 
deportation orders were executed, inspired the 
Cardinal of Malines to issue instructions on 
the matter to the pastors of his diocese. Failing 
in his noble efforts to make his sentiments of 
justice, right, humanity, and compassion prevail 



BELGIUM ENSLAVED 1 89 

with an invader who dreamt only of force and 
power, Cardinal Mercier, heartbroken at the 
sufferings and misfortunes of his flock, wished to 
mitigate the evil which he felt powerless to pre- 
vent. He would fain have dried all their tears, 
consoled every troubled soul, rertiinded these 
sorely tried famihes — which yet did not waver 
in their allegiance to country and king — of the 
subHmity of their patriotic endurance. He found 
food for the children who came to school without 
breakfast, a^nd for the old men who relinquished 
their meal to give a morsel of bread to their 
grandchildren. Like his Divine Master, he would 
fain have sacrificed himself completely for all, 
through love of his people and admiration for the 
heroic virtues which this people had never ceased 
to display for more than two years. But, as "his 
strength and his time could not keep pace with 
his good-will," he addressed himself to his priests 
and, through them, to all men of good-will, asking 
them to come to the aid of the suffering. 

On December 19, 1916, His Eminence sent the 
following instructions to the pastors of his diocese. 

Malines, December 19, 1916. 

My dear Pastors and Assistants: 

Despite the protests addressed to Germany by 
the Sovereign Pontiff and several neutral States, 
the deportation of our civil population has not 
ceased. 



190 CARDINAL MERCIER 

It is our duty to mitigate, as much as we can, 
an evil which we are powerless to prevent. 

WHEN THE DEPORTATION IS ANNOUNCED 

1. As soon as the notice of the convocation 
has been posted in your commune, please warn 
the persons who are not dependent on public 
assistance that they must provide themselves with 
a receipt of their taxes, and attach to it a cer- 
tificate of the communal authority. The sick 
and delicate will ask their physicians to issue to 
them a certificate of ill-health, and the workmen, 
who are not "unemployed," will procure from their 
employers a certificate of service, which will be 
countersigned by the burgomaster. 

2. In conjunction with the influential people 
of your parish, pay special attention to the in- 
terests of your parishioners who, according to the 
instructions of the German authorities themselves, 
cannot be deported. Then, act in concert with 
the communal authorities, with the Comite de 
Secours et d^ Alimentation^ with your wealthy 
parishioners and devoted women, with a view to 
supplying the necessary clothes and assistance for 
the indigent whose departure is probable. 

ON THE EVE OF THE DEPARTURE 

On the eve of their departure, or the preceding 
day, urge the enrolled men to go to confession. 
Several of you should place yourselves at their 



BELGIUM ENSLAVED I9I 

disposal. Celebrate a Mass for their intentions 
and invite their children, grandchildren, and other 
adults to be present. The fact that they received 
Holy Communion in union with their whole 
family will be a comfort and happy memory for 
them in their exile. In a practical instruction, 
exhort them to remain true to their faith and 
to their moral and religious practices during the 
period of their absence. Family prayers should 
be said for them. Give the departing men a 
souvenir — beads, a scapular, or a New Testament. 

ON THE DAY AFTER THE DEPARTURE 

I. Issue an appeal to a selected number of 
charitable parishioners. Get into communica- 
tion with the branches of the Society of St. 
Vincent de Paul, the Association of the Ladies of 
Mercy, the Third Order of St. Francis, the Sodal- 
ities, confraternities and the various charitable 
societies affiliated with the Diocesan Federation 
of Catholic Women, of which Father Halflants 
is director. With their assistance and under 
the direction of the pastor or his delegate, form 
a "committee of moral aid" to visit the bereaved 
families, console them, and give them advice and 
assistance. Help them morally, and, if there is 
need, help them materially. The Christian 
parish forms one family. When one member of 
a family suffers, the other members suffer with 
him; when the family is in affluence, each shares 



192 CARDINAL MERCIER 

in it. In the same way there should not be in 
the parish a single neglected, unknown, or for- 
gotten household. And, if this obligation obtains 
in normal times, it is imperious in these days of 
distress. Persons who have leisure should place 
themselves at the disposal of persons who have 
not. Whatever some have in superabundance, 
should supply the necessity of others. Mutual 
aid, thus understood and practiced, is only the 
fulfilment of the Christian law. "Bear ye one 
another's burdens," says St. Paul, "and so you 
shall fulfil the law of Christ." ' 

Pastors who need assistance in the discharge of 
their ministry of charity, may come and ask it 
from me, or send someone on their behalf. I 
should be grateful to them if they would in such 
cases state as exactly as possible the amount of 
assistance they expect. 

2. We may not neglect any means of securing 
the repatriation of those who, according to the 
declarations of the German Government, should 
have escaped deportation. A bureau of claims 
has been organized for this object in our episcopal 
offices. 

The pastors are requested to fill in the attached 
forms, in tripHcate. Extra copies will be seiit 
upon request. The filled-in forms will be col- 
lected in the various deaneries, and thence sent 
as rapidly as possible to the archiepiscopal offices. 

^ Galatians vi. z. 



BELGIUM ENSLAVED I93 

The deans will kindly communicate the above 
instructions to their colleagues. 

You will remind them again of our request of 
August 14, 1914, that they should say Mass each 
week for our soldiers who have fallen on the field 
of honor. Charity commands us to pray and to 
make others pray for them. 

This will be the moment also to rekindle piety 
and the spirit of penance and sacrifice among your 
parishioners. Let them offer their good works 
for the intention of all who are in distress or 
grief: for our soldiers, the wounded, the absent, 
the refugees of to-day or exiles of to-morrow; for 
the intention of our King and his Government, 
for the intention of our Holy Father the Pope, 
and I confidently add, as I do at the end of 
the ceremonies of ordination: "Pray also to the 
Almighty God for me." 

Accept, dear pastors and assistants, the as- 
surance of my affectionate devotion in our Lord 
Jesus Christ. 

The Holy See and the Deportations 

Cardinal Mercier forwarded to the Sovereign 
Pontiff several documents dealing with the de- 
portations of Belgians to Germany. On receiving 
the answer of the Cardinal Secretary of State, 
he sent it to the pastors of his diocese with the 
request that they should read it to the faithful: 
"You will gratefully welcome the enclosed letter 



194 CARDINAL MERCIER 

which the Cardinal Secretary of State has sent 
us, on behalf of the Holy Father. Kindly read 
this letter to the faithful." The letter is written 
in Italian. The translation is as follows: 

Secretariate of State 
OF His Holiness 
No. 23026 
Vatican, November 29, 1916. 

Your Eminence: 

The Holy Father has received Your Emi- 
nence's letter of the 12th inst. and the en- 
closed documents concerning the deportation of 
Belgians to Germany. 

The venerable Pontiff, in whose paternal heart 
all the sorrows of his beloved Belgian people find 
an echo, has ordered me to announce to Your 
Eminence that he is keenly interesting himself 
in your harshly tried people, that he has already 
addressed himself to the Imperial German Govern- 
ment in their favor, and that he will do every- 
thing in his power to secure that an end be put 
to the deportations, and that these who have 
already been deported far from their native land, 
may soon return to the bosom of their afflicted 
families. 

His Holiness has also entrusted to me the agree- 
able duty of transmitting a very special bless- 
ing to Your Eminence and the faithful of your 
diocese. 

I am also glad of this opportunity of expressing 



BELGIUM ENSLAVED I95 

to Your Eminence the sentiments of deep venera- 
tion with which I humbly salute you. 

Your Eminence's humble and devoted servant, 
(Signed) P. Cardinal Gasparri 

The intercession of Pope Benedict XV with 
the German Government has not been crowned 
with success. The Belgian Government reports 
that the deportations continue and that only the 
sick are returned to their homes. However, 
speaking in his address to the Consistory on 
December 4, 191 6, of the violations of the rights 
of nations which have taken place during the 
war, the Holy Father believed it his duty to insist 
especially on the horrors of the deportations. 

We quote here the passage from the Consistorial 
Address which deals with this subject: 

"Wherever the authority of the laws is neg- 
lected or scorned, discord and the passions reign, 
and trouble invades public and private affairs. 
If this truth needed confirmation, it would find 
it in the present course of the aflPairs of the world. 

"Does not the horrible folly of this war which 
ravages Europe, cry out in evidence of what 
ruin and disaster may result from the scorn of 
the sovereign laws which govern the relations 
between States ? In this great conflict of nations 
we see the unworthy treatment meted out to 
sacred things and the ministers of God (even 
those of elevated rank), in spite of the sacred 



196 CARDINAL MERCIER 

character they possess in virtue of divine right 
and the law of nations. Large numbers of peace- 
able citizens are torn from their hearths and 
conducted away amid the tears of their mothers, 
their wives, and their children. Unfortified towns 
and defenseless multitudes are the victims of 
air raids. Alike on sea and on land, such crimes 
are perpetrated as fill one's soul with sadness and 
horror, 

"We deplore this accumulation of evils, and 
again condemn all the iniquities committed in 
this war, whatever be the theater and whoever 
the authors." 



VII 
COURAGE, MT BRETHREN! 



VII 
COURAGE, MT BRETHREN! 

SEXAGESIMA SUNDAY, I917 

FEAST OF THE APPARITION OF OUR LADY OF LOURDES 
I. MORAL GRANDEUR OF THE NATION 

My Beloved Brethren 

IS it indeed necessary to preach courage to you ? 
And when I say "you," I am thinking more 
immediately of the faithful companions of our 
misfortunes, but my thoughts go out also beyond 
our occupied provinces to our refugees, our 
prisoners, our deported fellow-countrymen, and 
our soldiers. 

Brethren of our armies of Liege, Haelen, Ant- 
werp, the Yser and Ypres, the Cameroons and 
East Africa, it is you who are our foremost pur- 
veyors of energy. On August 2, 1914, you 
sprang up from the bosom of all the families of 
our national aristocracy with splendid ardor, at- 
testing to the world at large that the nobility has 
preserved its traditional significance in Belgium; 
the middle classes, the bulwarks of the nation, 
ranged themselves beside you; a modest employe 
of our city of Malines has six sons at the front; 

199 



200 CARDINAL MERCIER 

the working classes, too, furnished their con- 
tingent of voluntary recruits, all the more praise- 
worthy since their departure made a painful 
void in the home; military chaplains and stretcher- 
bearers have gladly offered and lavished their 
devotion; the Government, after two years and 
six months of trial, is still in harness, with a 
courage that nothing can weaken; our good wishes 
follow in the wake of these valiant men; all form 
a guard of honor, proud and faithful, for our 
magnanimous Sovereign, who, from the sand- 
bank which is now all his kingdom, gives to Bel- 
gium and to the whole world a perfect example of 
endurance and of faith in the future. 

Those who are fighting for the liberty of the 
Belgian flag are brave men. Those interned in 
Holland and Germany, who raise their fettered 
hands to Heaven on behalf of their country, are 
brave men. Our exiled compatriots, who bear in 
silence the weight of their isolation, also serve 
their Belgian fatherland to the best of their 
ability, as do also all those souls who, either 
behind the cloister-walls or in the retirement of 
their own homes, pray, toil, and weep, awaiting 
the return of their absent ones, and our common 
deliverance. 

We have listened to the mighty voices of wives 
and mothers; through their tears they have 
prayed God to sustain the courage and fidelity 
to honor of their husbands and sons, carried off 



COURAGE, MY BRETHREN! 201 



by force to the enemy's factories. These gallant 
men have been heard at the hour of departure, 
rallying their energy to instil courage into their 
comrades, or, by a supreme effort, to chant the 
national hymn; we have seen, some of them on 
their return, pale, haggard human wrecks; as 
our tearful eyes sought their dim eyes we bowed 
reverently before them, for all unconsciously they 
were revealing to us a new and unexpected aspect 
of national heroism. 

After this, can it be necessary to preach courage 
to you .? 

True, there are some shadows in the picture 
I have sketched for you; there have been weak- 
nesses here and there among our people for which 
we must blush; I am not referring, be it clearly 
understood, to the handful of workmen, exhausted 
by privation, stiflF with cold, or crushed by blows, 
who at last gave utterance to a word of submis- 
sion; there are limits to human energy. I refer, 
with deep regret, to the few malefactors who lend 
themselves to the lucrative parts of informer, 
courtier, or spy, and to those misguided individuals 
who are not ashamed to trade upon the poverty 
of their compatriots. Happily, when future 
generations look back from the more distant 
standpoint of History, these blots will die out, 
and all that will remain for their edification will 
be the splendid spectacle of a nation of seven 
millions, which, on the evening of August 2, 



202 CARDINAL MERCIER j 

with one accord not only refused to allow its 
honor to be held in question for a moment, but 
which, throughout over thirty months of ever- 
increasing moral and physical suffering, on bat- 
tlefields, in military and civil prisons, in exile, 
under an iron domination, has remained imper- 
turbable in its self-control, and has never once 
so far yielded as to cry: This is too much! This 
is enough! 

In our young days our professors of history 
rightly held up to our admiration Leonidas and 
the three hundred Spartans, who, instead of seek- 
ing safety in easy flight, allowed themselves to 
be crushed by the Persian army at the Pass of 
Thermopylae. They filled us with enthusiasm for 
the six hundred heroes of Franchimont, who, 
after risking life and liberty by passing through 
the camp of the armies of Louis XI and Charles 
the Bold at night, all fell in an assault of almost 
frenzied valor and desperate resistance. The 
teachers of the Belgian generation of to-morrow 
will have yet other instances of military heroism 
and patriotism to evoke. And may we not hope 
that our generation, too, will preserve the mem- 
ory of the union it has now fashioned, and that 
in future there will be among us all a deeper wish 
for national unity, less personal acrimony in the 
conflict of ideas, a less grudging respect for civil 
and religious authority, in a word, a more general 
fidelity, both before public opinion and in the 



COURAGE, MY BRETHREN! 203 

secret recesses of the soul, to our motto: "Union 
is strength," an echo of the words of Christ: 
" Ut omnes unum sint, — that they all may be 
one. '■ 

II. CHRISTIAN GREATNESS 

Nevertheless, my Brethren, we must rise still 
higher. 

True, the natural moral virtues are worthy of 
all admiration, and he who should refuse them 
such admiration would be fatuous indeed. 

At various periods of unrest there have been 
arrogant minds which have despised human na- 
ture, its resources and its achievements. But 
Christ and the Church honor it. Our Saviour 
came not to destroy nature, but to correct its 
aberrations, and to raise it to a higher level. 

Did not Greece give the world thinkers of 
genius ? Is not the wisdom of ancient Rome pro- 
verbial? Did not pagan art produce master- 
pieces which Christian generations have never 
wearied of admiring and copying? The great 
Popes Leo XIII and Pius X protected classic 
literature against those who wished to abolish 
it in Christian education; and in one of his 
masterly Encyclicals, Leo XIII expressly en- 
joined Catholic philosophers to profit by the 
thought and science of others, no matter where 
they found them. 

^ John xvii. 21. 



204 CARDINAL MERCIER 

Intelligence is no more exclusively Christian 
than are physical health, capacity for work, 
initiative, energy, or wealth. These gifts of 
nature are not even bound up with virtue. God, 
says the Gospel, maketh His sun to rise on the 
evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the 
just and on the unjust.^ 

As to moral virtue — bravery, for instance, con- 
stancy, philanthropy, patriotism in its multiple 
forms — you must greet it with gratitude and 
respect wherever you find it. Christianity has no 
monopoly of it. Nature is not incapable of it, 
and moreover, the supernatural graces are not 
exclusively reserved for members of the Catholic 
Church. It is well to be proud of your faith, but 
do not imitate the Pharisee who boasted that he 
was not like other men, and looked down upon 
the poor publican on whom the God of mercy 
took pity. "Finally, brethren," says St. Paul, 
"whatsoever things are true, whatsoever modest, 
whatsoever just, whatsoever holy, whatsoever 
lovely, whatsoever of good fame, think on [[ap- 
preciate] these things." ^ "Loving one another," 
he says elsewhere, "with honor preventing one 
another, diligentes honor e invicem pmvenientes ;" ^ 
better still, be humble enough to think your neigh- 
bor superior to yourself; you will become con- 

1 Matthew v. 45. 

2 Philippians iv. 8. 
.. 2 Romans xii. 10. 



COURAGE, MY BRETHREN! 205 

vinced of this, if, instead of taking pleasure in 
what is good in yourself, you endeavor to look 
at what is good in others : in humilitate superiores 
sibi invicem arbitranteSy non qucB sua sunt singuli 
consider antes, sed ea, quce aliorum. In humility let 
all esteem others better than themselves. Each 
one not considering the things that are his own, 
but those that are other men's. ^ 

Nevertheless, my Brethren, when virtue is not 
inspired by Christian charity, it lacks its chief 
element. It is not enough, in short, to do good; 
we must do good aright; now we can only do it 
aright when we have brought it to a degree of 
perfection which makes it deserving of eternal 
life. St. Augustine devoted the greater part of 
his dogmatic and polemical writings to establish- 
ing, as against the rationalists of his day, Pelagians 
or semi-Pelagians, this fundamental truth: that 
only works inspired by charity, that is to say, by 
the love of God, and the love of one's neighbor in 
the sight of God, have power to open the gates of 
Paradise to us. The holy doctor would not per- 
mit an act of mere natural goodness to be quali- 
fied without reservation as "virtuous." "To 
sum up," he wrote, "virtue is identical with 
charity, and consists in loving what we ought 
to love." Virtus est charitas, qua id quod dili- 
gendum est, diligitur? 

* Philippians ii. 3, 4. 

2 Epist. ad S. Hieron. 167a ed. Vives. 



206 CARDINAL MERCIER 

Indeed, did not our Lord Himself declare and 
insist that all the commandments of God are 
comprised in the law of love? And does not St. 
Paul say that love is the fulfilling of the law, 
plenitudo ergo legis est dilectio? ^ 

Christianity has not transformed moral great- 
ness, but it has ameHorated, completed, and 
raised it to that supreme height where it is in 
immediate contact with God. The soul which 
possesses charity lives the divine life. God lives 
in it, and it in God. Jesus Christ is the Hving 
bond between it and the Holy Trinity. Thence- 
forth, the natural worship of morality and of 
religion cannot suffice; God no longer accepts it. 
It is through Christ, who sheds the effusions of 
His life supernaturally into our souls, it is with 
Christ and in Christ — per Ipsum et cum Ipso, 
et in Ipso — that all honor and glory must rise 
towards God the Father Almighty in the unity 
of the Holy Spirit, for ever, in time and in eternity: 
Per Ipsum et cum Ipso et in Ipso, est tibi Deo Patri 
Omnipotentiy in unitate Spiritus Sancti, omnis 
honor et gloria, per omnia saecula saeculorum.^ 

How sad it would be, my Brethren, to think 
that the sufferings endured for nearly three years 
by millions of immortal souls, would, perhaps in 
a very considerable number of cases, be lost to 
eternity! The glory of military successes is, no 

^ Romans xiii. lo. 

* End of the Canon of the Mass. 



COURAGE, MY BRETHREN! 207 

doubt, enviable; heroism in patience, privation, 
loss of liberty, and even in the presence of death, 
is certainly admirable; but the artificers of this 
glory, those who engendered this heroism, would 
be greatly to be pitied, if at the turning-point of 
eternity, suddenly confronted by those sovereign 
realities they had refused to believe in, they 
should have to confess, in despair: Fools that we 
were! We treated the modest lives of the Chris- 
tians around us as folly; we thought they lacked 
brilliance, and behold! it is they who now take 
place among the children of God and in the tri- 
umphant assembly of saints. We were deceived 
then. We did not follow the way of truth, our 
eyes did not recognize the light of justice, the 
sun of intelligence did not shine upon us. Nos 
insensati, vitam illorum aestimahamus insaniam, et 
finem illorum sine honore. Ecce quomodo computati 
sunt inter filios Dei, et inter sanctos sors illorum 
est. Ergo erravimus a via veritatis, et justitiae 
lumen non luxit nobis, et sol intelligentiae non est 
ortus nobis} 

Those who are on the other side of the barrier 
of Time, our dead of yesterday, of past centuries, 
would gladly send us a messenger charged to 
tell us what the rich man of the parable desired 
to tell his brethren: You have still a span of life 
before you; you are within reach of the confes- 
sional, where the divine Saviour of the world 

^ Wisdom V. 4-6. 



208 CARDINAL MERCIER 

remits sins by the ministry of His priests, of your 
parish church, where you can so easily go to pray, 
and to ask our Lord in His tabernacle, and His 
Mother, the refuge of sinners, the Mother of 
divine grace, the almighty mediator for humanity, 
to grant you the grace of conversion or of per- 
severance; I entreat you, in the name of your 
dearest interests, in the name of the affection you 
bear me, in the name of the tears you shed over 
my lot, in the name of the deep joy we shall feel 
when we meet again to part no more, once more 
I entreat you, be converted, sanctify yourselves, 
live the lives of Christians and of saints. 

My Brethren, if our ordeal is prolonged, it is 
because the design of divine Love is not yet 
accomplished. 

The design of Providence is a design of love, 
doubt it not. It is carrying out for some a 
work of justice, for others a work of mercy; but 
for all it is, in the divine intention, a work of 
love. 

In God, all attributes are substantially identical. 
God is Omnipotence, but His omnipotence could 
not exist without wisdom, and the wisdom of 
the Almighty is not separable from His love. He 
can do all things. He knows all things, but He 
wills only in love. Theology ascribes Omnipotence 
to the Father, Omniscience to the Son, the Word 
of the Father; and all-embracing Love to the 



COURAGE, MY BRETHREN.' 209 

Holy Spirit, who proceeds from the Father and 
the Word; but the works of creation and of 
Providence have as their Author the unique na- 
ture of God, in whom the three Persons of the 
Blessed Trinity are indissolubly united. 

Do not forget your baptismal faith. Believe in 
God. Believe in love, which is, in substance, God. 
Deus charitas est} 

Believe in the sayings of the Word: He came 
to reveal the love of God to the world, and in 
order to convince us and bring us to Him, He 
deigned to carry the evidences of His love before 
our eyes and hearts, far beyond that which the 
most rigorous divine justice could have demanded 
for the redemption of mankind. For whereas a 
prayer, a sigh, a tear would have sufficed for the 
salvation of humanity, our Saviour strove to 
conquer our souls by every means that could 
touch and move us, that could make us love 
Him, and pass, by Him, to the love of His 
Father. 

Need I remind you. Brethren, of the Babe of 
Bethlehem, for whom His parents did not even 
demand the humblest place in an inn; of the 
Flight through the desert into Egypt, under the 
threat of murderous persecution; of a childhood 
and youth spent under a humble roof, in the ob- 
scurity of a workshop; of the fatigues of a ministry 
exposed to the opposition of the Scribes and 

1 / John iv. 8. 



2lO CARDINAL MERCIER 

Ihansees, the ingratitude of the masses, the 
obstinate prejudices of the Disciples and Apostles; 
finally, of that last week, into which, rushing one 
upon he other like the waters of a torrent, were 
crowded the Agony in the Garden of Gethsemane, 
the treachery of Judas on the very evening of the 
institution of that Sacrament we so rightly call 
the Sacrament of Love, and the institution of the 
priesthood, the choice between Jesus and Barab- 
bas, the frenzy of the crowd, blaspheming Him 
whom but yesterday they had acclaimed with 
triumphant Hosannas, the scenes in the Praeto- 
rium and in the court of Herod : our gentle Lord's 
back and shoulders scourged with rods. His head 
lacerated by the crown of thorns. His face defiled 
by spittle and swollen by buffeting; the whole 
adorable person of the Man-God outraged and 
mocked, rendered what the prophetic psalm 
describes as " a reproach of men, and the outcast 
of the people," ahjectio plebis,^ or as Tertullian 
has it, "one who is of no more account," nulli- 
ficamen plehis; then the ascent to Calvary, the 
swooning of the Victim under the weight of the 
cross; the desertion by all the Apostles save 
St. John; the Crucifixion; the Messias exposed 
to public derision between two thieves, in sight 
of His Mother, a martyr with Him; all suffer- 
ing, physical and moral, heaped upon a single 
head, even to the sense of total abandonment 

^ Psalm xxii. 6. 



COURAGE, MY BRETHREN! 211 

which drew from the dying Hps that sigh of 
supreme distress: "My God, My God, why 
hast Thou forsaken Me ? Deus meus^ Deus meusy 
ut quid dereliquisti me!'' '^ My Brethren, you 
who pass so often before the crucifix, pause 
for a moment, "and see if there be any sorrow 
Hke to this sorrow. Fos omnes qui transitis per 
viam, attendite et videte si est dolor sicut dolor 
meus. ^ 

"God so loved the world as to give His only 
begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him 
may not perish, but have life everlasting. Sic 
enim Deus dilexit mundum, ut Filium suum 
unigenitum daret: ut omnis, qui credit in eum, non 
fereat, sed haheat vitam aeternam." ^ 

Christians, do you not hear resounding in your 
souls the challenge of Jehovah to His chosen 
people, of the vine-dresser to his vineyard: "In- 
habitants of Jerusalem and ye men of Juda," 
He says by the mouth of the Prophet Isaias, 
"judge between me and my vineyard. What is. 
there that I ought to do more to my vineyard 
that I have not done to it? ^uid est quod dehui 
ultra jacere vineae meae, et non feci ei?" ^ And do 
we not understand how the Apostle Paul, about 
to die for the love of his Saviour, ventured to cry: 
"If any man love not our Lord Jesus Christ let 

1 Mark XV. 34. 

2 Lamentations i. 12. 
^ John iii. 16. 

* Isaias v. 3. 



212 CARDINAL MERCIER 

him be anathema. Si quis non amat Dominum 
nostrum Jesum Christum^ sit anathema." ^ 

III. CONCLUSIONS 

First Conclusion: Believe in the divine 
love. 

My Brethren, you cannot doubt the love of 
God for you; you cannot doubt that all He does 
is well, that it is the work at once of His Power, 
His Wisdom, His Love, the work of Father, Son 
and Holy Spirit. 

You cannot at the present moment understand 
the why and wherefore of all the events which 
His Providence ordains or permits; it is not 
required of you to understand them. Is it sur- 
prising, I ask you, that the finite should fail to 
understand the infinite; that the child, lisping the 
first letters of the alphabet, should not grasp 
the meaning of the great Book of History; that 
the spectator of a sunrise and a sunset should not 
take in the meaning of eternity? 

If indeed you could understand, you would not 
need to believe; and it is God's will that you 
should believe, that your faith should be meritori- 
ous for you, and glorious for Him. The holy 
man Job, whom the Scriptures offer as a pattern 
to suffering souls, was absolutely right in refusing 
to listen to his wife and his friends, who urged 
him to rebel, on the pretext that the trials which 

^ / Corinthians xvi. 22. 



COURAGE, MY BRETHREN 213 

had overwhelmed a faithful servant of God were 
senseless chastisements. "If we have received 
good things at the hand of God," replied the 
martyr, *'why should we not receive evil? Si 
bona suscepimus de manu Dei, mala quare non 
suscipiamus? " ^ 

In other words, it is not for us to judge whether 
a thing is good or evil; the main point is not to 
know whether it pleases or displeases us. Our 
point of view is too restricted, our horizon too 
limited, our faculty of judgment too uncertain, to 
enable us to pronounce wisely upon the bearing 
and value of providential events. 

There is a much safer course, the only truly 
safe one, that is, to keep our own place, in the 
humility proper to our incompetence and our 
inferiority, and to leave to God sovereign auton- 
omy, understanding, and love. The holy king 
David, whose life was so full of trials, was often 
troubled at the sight of the insolent prosperity of 
his persecutors and enemies; he poured out his 
doubts, his anguish, and his grief in his Psalms; 
but Faith triumphed in him, and finally led him 
to these outbursts of loving confidence: "What 
have I in heaven? And besides Thee what do 
I desire upon earth? For Thee my flesh and my 
heart hath fainted away. Thou art the God of 
my heart and the God that is my portion for 
ever. For behold! they that go far from Thee 
1 Job iL 10. 



214 CARDINAL MERCIER 

shall perish . . . but it is good for me to ad- 
here to my God; to put my hope in the Lord 
God."i 

If you are tempted to be sceptical, my Brethren, 
take your Psalter; read and meditate upon a 
few Psalms; your faith will revive, and almost 
involuntarily, you will begin to pray. 

Second Conclusion: Act of adoration, sub- 
mission, and love. 

Pater Noster, Our Father: My God, the first 
thought I will contemplate when, in sorrow as in 
joy, I lift up my soul to Thee, is that Thou art 
my Father, that I am Thy Child, that between 
Thee and me, thanks to Thine ineffable con- 
descension, there are family relations. It is as 
a child with his father that I wish to live with 
Thee. I do not doubt Thee, any more than I 
doubt my own father and mother; I have less 
confidence in my own father and mother than in 
Thee, because my father and mother are often 
unable to give me the good things they would 
bestow upon me, whereas, O my Father in Heaven, 
nothing can resist Thy sovereign will. 

Our Father who art in Heaven: It is not upon 
earth, in the restricted space of a shelter made 
by the hand of man, that the family life of God's 

^ ^id enim mihi est in coelo? Et a te quid volui super terram? 
Defecit caro mea et cor meum: Deus cordis mei, et pars mea Deus in 
aeternum. ^uia ecce qui elongant se a te, peribunt. . , . Mihi autem 
adhaerere Deo bonum est; ponere in Domino Deo spem meam. Psalm 
Ixxii. 25-28. 



COURAGE, MY BRETHREN.' 215 

children develops. Heaven is the region above 
matter, above the reason of the feeble human 
creature; it is the spirit, of which baptismal grace 
has made a temple; it is the bosom of the divine 
Trinity, where the Christian soul, transformed 
by Faith, Hope and Charity, and by the gifts 
of the Holy Spirit, breathes in God, believes in 
God, and expands in God, until it attains the 
stature allotted to it by the design of eternal 
predestination. 

Hallowed he Thy Name: My God, Thou art 
essential sanctity, and as such, inaccessible to a 
miserable and sinful creature. Thou art infinitely 
abo^^e us. Thy Majesty, enthroned in the holy 
temple of its glory, transcends our vain efforts to 
praise and glorify it. Benedictus es in templo 
sanctae gloriae tuae, et superlaudahilis et super- 
gloriosus in saecula. But O, unfathomable depth 
of divine Love, Mystery which comprises all 
mysteries, Thou wast pleased to bring us forth 
from the void, to bend down towards us, to en- 
fold us with Thy love, to offer us a share in Thy 
life and Thy felicity. There is, however, a con- 
dition attached to this deification of our souls: 
we must believe that Thou lovest us, we must 
have faith in Christ, the supreme revelation of 
divine Love; we must believe in Thy Love, O 
Jesus, as the friend believes in his friend, the 
child in his mother, the wife in her husband. This 
faith is the highest glorification of the Holy 



2l6 CARDINAL MERCIER 

Name of God: Sanctificetur nomen tuum. Hal- 
lowed he Thy Name. 

Thy Kingdom come: My soul is a temple for 
Thee, my Saviour, may it also be a kingdom for 
Thee! I am and will be Thy subject. Reign 
supremely over me. If I have sometimes turned 
away from Thee, if I have even rebelled against 
Thee, it was because I did not know Thee. Hap- 
pily for me, my God, Thou art not estranged 
either by the cowardice or by the revolts of my 
nature. Thou askest only my faith, and a loyal 
will under the guidance of faith and the inspira- 
tion of Thy love. Lord, I believe, I would be- 
lieve, help Thou mine unbelief.^ Overcome my 
resistance. I know that Thou subduest me only in 
order to love me. To submit myself to Thee is 
to make myself beloved by Thee; it is to leave 
Thee free to realize my happiness, even in spite 
of myself. Dispose of me. Lord, break down in 
me, either with or against my own will, all obstacles 
to the invasion and the triumph of Thy Love. 

Thy Will he done on earth as it is in Heaven: 
My will belongs to Thee, I sacrifice it to Thee. 
What Thou wiliest is good, always good; what I 
will may not be so. My will must bow to Thine. 
Subdue it, purify it, transform it. The saints 
and angels in Heaven see and acclaim Thine 
infinite wisdom. I do not see it, but I believe in 
it. I bless Thy will, past and present. I await, 

^ Mark IX. 24. 



COURAGE, MY BRETHREN! 217 

in loving confidence, Thy future will. There is 
no event which does not bring us a message of 
love, an offer of union, a pledge of beatitude from 
Thee. All the designs of Providence are merci- 
ful and faithful, as the Psalmist tells us, but to 
experience this, we must enter into the divine 
covenant and desire to receive its testimonies. 
Universae viae Domini^ misericordia et Veritas requi- 
rentihus testamentum ejus et testimonia ejus} 

May the name of the Lord be blessed now and 
ever! Sit Nomen Domini henedictum ex hoc nunc 
et usque in saeculum! 

{Signed) D. J. Card. Mercier 

Archbishop of Malines 
^ Psalm xxiv. lo. 



VIII 
CHRISTIAN VENGEANCE 



VIII 

CHRISTIAN VENGEANCE 

Address delivered to the Deans, during^ their 
Annual Reunion at the Archiepiscopal 
Residence, on January 29, 1917- {Feast of 
St. Francis de Sales.) 

Reverend and dear Deans: 

IT has occurred to me that, during the troublous 
epoch through which we are passing, no day 
was more propitious for an exchange of views and 
sentiments with my closest fellow-workers than 
the feast of the great bishop, St. Francis de 
Sales, whose character and teachings trace so 
luminous a path of Christian spirituality and 
pastoral action. 

Monsignor de Segur recalls the fact that, in 
the Middle Ages, every Doctor of the Church 
had his surname: St. Thomas Aquinas was known 
as Doctor Angelicus; St. Bonaventure as Doctor 
Seraphicus; Duns Scotus as Doctor Subtilis. 
And, he adds, Pius IX is said to have declared 
that, if the great Bishop of Geneva should one 
day be ranked by the Church among her Doctors, 
we should have to style him Doctor Infallibilis 
(the infallible Doctor), so sure, so evangelic, so 



222 CARDINAL MERCIER 

luminous and so firmly grounded is his spiritual 
doctrine.^ 

It is indeed true that all the saints whom the 
Church raises to her altars, have practiced virtue 
to an heroic degree, and that she offers them all 
for our imitation. Each has, nevertheless, his 
individual features; in each we behold, as it 
were in greater relief than in the others, one of 
the traits of the Sacred Face of Our Saviour, 
inimitable as these traits are in their supreme 
ideality. The practice of meditating on the 
saints thus prepares our eyes for the con- 
templation of the human-divine countenance of 
Christ. 

St. Francis lived, labored, and spent himself in 
an age when the pagan renaissance and nascent 
Protestantism agitated mankind (i 567-1622). His 
labors, his worries, and his combats remind us of 
St. Paul, St. Athanasius, or St. Augustine. Con- 
sequently, no better model could be chosen for 
our contemplation. Whether we regard his moral 
character or even his physical appearance — if 
we may judge from the portraits we possess of 
him — the contemplation of the Saint will bring 
us enlightenment and encouragement. 

Examine more closely, my dear Colleagues, 
this noble countenance. An old fellow-worker 
and university friend of mine, the late and so 

^ Chaumont, "Directions spirituelles de S. Francois de Sales: 
La SoufFrance. Preface de Mgr. de Segur." 



CHRISTIAN VENGEANCE 223 

beloved Monsignor Cartuyvels, had a favorite 
saying that at forty a man is responsible for his 
countenance. St. Francis de Sales fashioned his 
by almost fifty years of ceaseless labor. Of an 
ardent, and even choleric temperament, he be- 
came a model of meekness, and numbers were 
accustomed to speak of him as "meek St. Francis 
de Sales." Let none, however, fall into the error 
of believing that his meekness was a spontaneous 
grace springing from a soft and timid nature; it 
represented the victory of a will accustomed to 
govern the emotions and to rely on a fortitude, 
or firmness of soul, which nothing could dishearten 
and nothing overcome. 

Our vanity loves to console itself with the 
idea that the saints were formed in a different 
mould from that in which we ourselves were cast. 
Nothing could be more deceptive or more ener- 
vating than this prejudice. "No, no," says St. 
Ambrose, "let us convince ourselves of this: 
the saints were not of a nature superior to ours; 
they were more generous than we, and therein 
lies the explanation; they were not free from 
evil passions, but they applied themselves to the 
task of conquering them." ^ 

The fortitude, or strength of soul, displayed by 
the saintly Bishop of Geneva sprang from his 
charity. He cultivated an overflowing affection 
for all his brethren, and especially for those 

^ St. Ambrose, "De Joseph Patriarcha," cap. i, in P. L. XIV, 643. 



224 CARDINAL MERCIER 

towards whom he felt naturally least attracted. 
"He made himself all things to all men so as to 
save souls," says the Collect in the Mass and the 
liturgical office of his feast day: "O God, who didst 
will that blessed Francis should become all 
things to all men for the salvation of souls . . ., 
graciously grant that through the sweetness 
of Thy charity we may attain everlasting 
bliss." 

And, in this chosen soul, these three different 
virtues were fused in so sweet a harmony — they 
were poised in such perfect equilibrium — that 
they convey an impression of repose, of order, 
and of serenity to all who consider the countenance 
of the saint. 

Let us apply to ourselves, my very dear Col- 
leagues, the advice of this holy Bishop. "Read," 
he says,^ "the stories and the lives of the saints, 
in which, as in a mirror, you will behold the 
portrait of the Christian life, and accommodate 
their actions to your profit according to your 
vocation." 

Let us consider, one after another, each of 
these four virtues which are characteristic of the 
saint: meekness, fortitude, charity and serenity. 
Let us study them with a view to adapting them 
to our own mode of life, and determine to draw 
inspiration from them in the actual practice of 
our ministry. 

^ "Introduction to a Devout Life," part II, chap. XVII. 



CHRISTIAN VENGEANCE 225 

MEEKNESS 

A large number of priests, both pastors and 
assistants, are engaged on the Comites de Ravi- 
taillement (committees for food distribution). This 
work of corporal mercy, which should win us the 
gratitude of all whom we aid, leaves in reality- 
many persons discontented, and many ungrate- 
ful. Be patient, dear friends. Distrust your natu- 
ral inclinations. Do not yield to the temptation 
to say: "If they treat me in this fashion, I am 
going away." Do not throw the helve after the 
hatchet. What do you expect? We must take 
poor humanity just as it is. Was it not our old 
minister, Beernaert, who defined gratitude as 
"the remembrance of favors we hope to obtain." 
Disinterested affection is not common. Do not 
we all prove this in our relations with God? 
Do we love Him for His own sake, as a rule, or 
for the sake of ourselves? 

Let the ingratitude . of our neighbors teach us to 
supernaturalize our intentions. When our Divine 
Saviour urges us to cultivate neighborly charity, 
He calls it a new commandment: "A new com- 
mandment I give unto you: That you love one 
another, as I have loved you, that you also love 
one another." Not indeed that the love of one's 
neighbor was not obligatory before the com- 
ing of the Messias, but it lacked that double 
character of universality and perfection which 



226 CARDINAL MERCIER 

Christian faith and charity alone could inspire and 
sustain. 

After the example of Christ, we must love 
everybody without exception. "For if you love 
them that love you, what reward shall you have? 
Do not even the publicans this?"^ We must 
imitate our Heavenly Father, who sends His warm 
sun and beneficent rain to the evil as well as the 
good. In every unfortunate whom you assist you 
must no longer see a man with his defects and 
failings, but Christ, of whom this unfortunate is 
a suffering member. For "as long as you did it 
to one of these My least brethren," says Our 
Saviour, "you did it to Me." ^ 

The mercy which is exercised in this spirit does 
not stop short of the extremest self-sacrifice, after 
the example of Christ who laid down His life for 
those whom He loved. "Greater love thah this 
no man hath, that a man lay down his life for 
his friends." ^ Charity thus understood is new 
in history, for it dates from Christ and His Church. 
Make it your inspiration, my dear friends, and 
you will be humble of heart and meek of soul. 
You will not be depressed by disappointments; 
you will not be conceited or domineering; you 
will not be prone to anger, but will know how to 
suffer all, accept all, expect all, support all. 

1 Matthew v. 46. 
^ Matthew xxv. 40. 
^ John XV. 13. 



CHRISTIAN VENGEANCE 227 

"Charity is patient, is kind; charity dealeth not 
perversely, is not puffed up; is not ambitious, is 
not provoked to anger; beareth all things, be- 
lieveth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all 
things." ^ 

FORTITUDE 

We must not, however, confound meekness 
with desertion of duty, nor moderation with the 
surrender of principles. Meekness ^ derives its 
sustenance from patience, a virtue which is a 
component part of fortitude (fortitudo), or strength 
of soul. 

In the Comites de Ravitaillement and elsewhere, 
one may see members venting their ill-temper on 
their subordinates, or bearing themselves in an 
arrogant manner. One may also see members — 
and often the self-same members — retire in a 
temper when confronted with opposition, lapse 
into an angry silence, and finally resign their 
task and relinquish the field to their adversaries. 
These members are lacking in self-control and 
fortitude. 



^ I Corinthians xiii. 4-7. 

2 Meekness is a virtue. It is a beatitude {Matthew v. 4), that is 
to say, an act of virtue. It is a fruit of the exercise of virtue {Galatians 
V. 22). Considered as a virtue, it is related — with its asso- 
ciates, humility and modesty — to the cardinal virtue of temperance. 
Patience is an auxiliary of meekness. It teaches man to preserve 
equanimity amidst the trials of life. It is included in the cardinal 
virtue called fortitude, or strength of soul. 



228 CARDINAL MERCIER 

In the face of a common enemy, good patriots 
should certainly close up their ranks more tightly 
than ever around their King and the public 
authorities. After the war there will inevitably 
be a truce, the duration of which, in my opinion, 
no one can now foresee, and during which the 
politicians of all parties must combine their 
talents and their influence for the resurrection of 
our ruins and the restoration of public order. 
The anticipation of this truce, which the Belgian 
Government has already inaugurated in Havre by 
admitting into its bosom the leaders of the Liberal 
and Socialist parties, has inspired the directors of 
the Comite National de Secours et de Ravitaillement 
with a spirit of benevolent neutrality to which 
we gladly pay tribute. We are obeying a senti- 
ment of loyalty when we affirm that the Central 
National Committee has given us in many in- 
stances what is better than verbal declarations — 
namely, effective proofs of its care for neutrality. 
But, just as before the war poHticians used to 
brave authority and at times vied with one an- 
other in evading the laws, certain individuals, 
whom a member of the General Committee 
described as "persons of inferior mentality," are 
even to-day incapable of ridding themselves of 
sectarianism, and show greater concern for their 
own future influence with the electorate than for 
national union. You must not capitulate to 
these individuals. Whether it is a question of 



CHRISTIAN VENGEANCE 229 

education, charitable enterprises or religion, be 
firm and persevering in the defence of the souls 
of the children, the interests of the poor, and the 
rights of Catholic families. True fortitude, 
fortitudo Christiana, declares itself in action. 
Calmly and unflinchingly insist that your rights 
prevail; go and plead your cause, if necessary, 
before the Central Committee. And, when you 
have exhausted in vain all the means of resistance 
that are at your disposal, come to us, and we 
shall leave nothing undone to secure recognition 
for the justice of our common cause. The in- 
terests which you defend are not your own, but 
those of God and of His Church. You have, 
therefore, no right to abandon their defence. 
Hear what Jeanne de Chantal says of the meek 
St. Francis, whom she knew so intimately: "Our 
very dear father was the bravest, most generous 
and powerful soul that one could have seen in 
discharging the tasks and labors, and in pursuing 
the enterprises with which God inspired him. He 
never became disheartened, and used to say that, 
when Our Saviour commits a task to us, we must 
not abandon it, but have the courage to overcome 
all difficulties." ^ 

My dear Colleagues, after the example of the 
great Bishop under whose patronage we are 
assembled, be meek and humble of heart. But do 
not be weak or timid; be strong. 

^ Letter of St. Jane Frances de Chantal on St. Francis de Sales. 



230 CARDINAL MERCIER 

One of the main reasons for the relative sterility 
of numerous Hves is because the faithful and 
priests do not arouse themselves to a sufficiently 
clear recognition of the resources which the 
Christian soul and sacerdotal zeal have at their 
disposal for the attainment of good. Do not 
confound pride and bravery, or pusillanimity and 
humility. St. Paul says: "For not he who com- 
mendeth himself, is approved;" ^ but he has said 
elsewhere: "I can do all things in Him who 
strengtheneth me." ^ God has given you the 
grace to live in the most tragic epoch of our his- 
tory. Forge yourselves virile souls. Courage, 
like all the virtues, is acquired and developed by 
exercise. You have heavy responsibilities, but 
let them not make you timorous. "If God puts 
ten pounds on a man," says an English writer, 
"He gives him strength to bear twenty." The 
essential thing is that you proceed conscious of 
your dependence on God. His arm will raise 
you to the level of each task. "Commit thy way 
to the Lord," says the Psalmist,^ "and trust in 
Him, and He will do it." 

CHARITY 

Meekness and humility, patience and courage, 
have their roots in charity. After the example 
of St. Francis de Sales, who emulates St. Paul, 

^ // Corinthians x. 18. 
* Philippians iv. 13. 
^ Psalm xxxvi. 5. 



CHRISTIAN VENGEANCE 23 I 

center all your energies in charity: make your- 
selves all things to all men. "O God, who didst 
will that St. Francis, Thy Confessor and PontiflP, 
should become all things to all men for the salva- 
tion of souls, graciously grant that, infused with 
the sweetness of Thy charity, we may attain 
everlasting bliss." 

To-day the general law of charity should regu- 
late especially our relations with those who have 
become our enemies, our relations with certain 
fellow-citizens who allow their selfish interests to 
compromise national union, and our relations 
towards our country. 

/. Charity towards our Enemies 

Catholics in other countries, who have not 
found in their hearts one word of reprobation for 
the German armies when they massacred the 
innocent inhabitants of Dinant, Virton, Andenne, 
Tamines, Aerschot, and Louvain, shot our priests, 
and set fire to our open towns and defenseless 
villages; who have propagated, or allowed to be 
propagated, the calumny which sought to absolve 
the criminals by transforming the victims into 
guilty parties; who, with folded arms, unmoved 
looks and closed lips, have now looked on for 
almost three years at the torture of a formerly 
friendly people, who had never wished Germany 
anything but good — these same Catholics dis- 
cover to-day pathetic accents to compose hymns 



232 CARDINAL MERCIER 

to Christian brotherhood, to the burial of the 
past and to peace. 

Confused notions are afloat as to our relations 
in justice and charity towards the enemy of the 
Belgian fatherland, and the occasion is propitious 
for recalling some points in the doctrine of St. 
Thomas Aquinas, the master par excellence of 
Christian philosophy and theology. 

There are two deep propensities in the heart 
of man — one towards joy and the other towards 
anger. The first has for its object the possession 
of a good, and joy is the fruit of this possession. 
The second propensity has for its object the 
removal of an evil, or the revolt against this evil 
when it has settled on us. 

These two propensities are met with in the 
animal kingdom and in man. In the case of 
animals, they occur in the state of need and of 
passion; in the case of man, they are found both 
in the state of need and passion and in the state 
of rational inclination. 

Our propensity towards pleasure, whether 
sensible or supra-sensible, is outside the ques- 
tion which now concerns us. Our propensity 
towards anger and vengeance — the animal pas- 
sion or the rational inclination of the will — alone 
interests us here. 

St. Thomas defines anger as an "appetite for 
vengeance" {ira est appetitus vindictce). This 
appetite may have its seat in the sensible part of 



CHRISTIAN VENGEANCE 233 

our nature, or in the super-sensitive will. How 
are we to judge it from the moral standpoint? 

It may be either good or bad, says St. Thomas; 
it may occasion an act of virtue or a sin, according 
as the object of the vengeful will is just and proper 
or otherwise. "To have the will to avenge evil, 
while respecting the order of justice, is to perform 
an act of virtue. To will thus to redress a moral 
evil, within the limits of right, is to feel anger at 
evil, to perform a work of zeal, to act well." 

But to desire vengeance inordinately, "whether 
we transcend the limits of justice or seek first the 
extermination of the guilty party and the re- 
pression of evil only as an afterthought, is to do 
evil. In this latter case, the suffering of our 
neighbor becomes the aim of our vengeance." 

And how must we judge the participation of 
passion in this vengeful anger .f* Does the moral 
law require that the will to avenge an evil be 
impassive? St. Thomas declares the contrary. 
Passion is undoubtedly dangerous at the moment 
when a man is to pass judgment on the morality 
of a contemplated act, as it may then indeed 
disturb the calmness of his judgment. But from 
the moment when the justice of the repressive 
act is apparent and the morality of the repres- 
sion has been decided, the passion accompanying 
the anger becomes the auxiliary of the will, and 
lends more vigor and promptness to the accom- 
plishment of justice. When thus confined to their 



234 CARDINAL MERCIER 

proper role, passions are, says St. Thomas, useful 
for virtue {utiles virtuti)} 

The appHcation of these principles to the situa- 
tion which confronts us is apparent. The in- 
justice of the violation of our territory is flagrant, 
and is even admitted by its authors. The scorn 

^ The preceding paragraphs are taken, almost verbatim, from 
different passages of the superb opusculum of St. Thomas, entitled 
"De Malo." The following are the principal texts on which our 
argument is based: "In ira sicut in qualibet alia passione, duo pos- 
sumus considerare: unum quod est quasi formale, aliud quod est quasi 
materiale. Formale quidem in ira est id quod est ex parte animae 
appetitivae, quod scilicet ira sit appetitus vindictae; materiale autem 
id quod pertinet ad commotionem corporalem. . . . Ita ergo, si con- 
sideretur ira secundum id quod est formale in ea, sic potest esse et in 
appetitu sensitivo et in appetitu intellectivo qui est voluntas, secundum 
quam aliquis potest velle sumere vindictam; et secundum hoc mani- 
festum est quod ira potest esse et bona et mala. 

" Manijestum est enim quod quando aliquis quaerit vindictam se- 
cundum debitum justitiae ordinem, hoc est virtutis, puta, cum vin- 
dictam quaerit ad correctionem peccati, servato ordine juris; et hoc est 
irasci contra peccatum. 

Cum autem aliquis inordinate appetit vindictam, est peccatum: 
vel quia quaerit vindictam praeter ordinem juris, vel quia quaerit 
vindictam magis intendens exterminationem peccantis quam aboli- 
tionem peccati; et hoc est irasci in fratrem. 

Ira et aliae passiones dupliciter se possunt habere ad judicium 
rationis: uno modo, antededenter; et sic necesse est ut semper ira et 
omnis hujus modi passio judicium rationis impediat, quia anima 
maxime judicare potest veritatem in tranquillitate quadam mentis; 
alio modo, potest se habere ira ad judicium rationis, ut consequenter; 
quia scilicet postquam ratio dijudicavit et ordinavit modum vindictae, 
tunc passio insurgit ad exequendum; et sic ira et aliae hujusmodi pas- 
siones non impediunt judicium rationis quia jam prcecessit; sed magis 
adjuvant ad promptius exquendum, et in hoc sunt utiles virtuti; unde 
Gregorius dicit: Tunc ira robustius contra vitia erigitur, cum subdita 
rationi famulatur." — " De Malo," q. XII. art I. 

" Si aliquis appetat quod, secundum ordinem rationis, fiat vindicta, 
est laudabilis irae appetitus, et vacatur ira per zelum." " Summ. 
Theol." 2a 2ae, q. 158. art. 2. 



CHRISTIAN VENGEANCE 235 

shown for our rights from the fatal days of the 
first invasion of our country to the present hour 
is incontestable. The repression of these iniquities 
is thus a manifest right, and is moreover a duty 
for those who have the means of repressing them. 
To wish that this duty be exercised, that order 
be reestablished, that the authors of the disorder 
be chastised and reduced to a condition of power- 
lessness to injure us further; to wish that inof- 
fensive people shall have the opportunity of living 
in peace, that the final decision shall accord with 
right and the vindication of the God of justice — 
to desire this with all the energy of our will and 
with all the passionate ardor of which our human 
nature is capable, is simply to correspond 
with the plea of justice, to perform an act of 
virtue. 

But, some people object, this is the same as 
hatred, and charity excludes hatred. 

Assuredly charity excludes hatred. Hatred is 
the contrary of charity. They are as mutually 
exclusive as fire and water, and it is impossible 
that they co-exist in the same person. 

But what is hatred? It is to wish someone 
evil for evil's sake; to wish that our neighbor 
should suffer for no other reason than that he 
may suffer; to make his suffering our object on 
which our wills can dwell with pleasure. Such 
a disposition of souls would be grievously 
culpable. 



236 CARDINAL MERCIER 

On the other hand, to wish a physical evil to 
someone who has committed an injustice and 
obstinately perseveres in his unjust course, and 
to wish this physical evil, not as an end in itself, 
but as a means of attaining an ulterior moral 
end; to wish that the guilty should suffer so that, 
under the pressure of suffering, there shall come 
about in his soul the conversion which he refuses 
to effect voluntarily — this is not to hate him, 
but on the contrary to love him rationally.^ 

"As I live, saith the Lord, I desire not the 
death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn 
from his way, and live." ^ We follow the teach- 
ing of God; we do not desire our enemies to be 
excluded from Paradise, but we wish that they 
shall again become worthy of entering into it. 

"He who loves well, chastises well," says the 
proverb. The love for avenging justice may be 
carried to excess and degenerate into cruelty, 
but it may also err by defect, by inflicting on 

^ " Vindicatio fit per aliquod poenale malum inflictum peccanti. 
Si vindicantis intentio feratur principaliter in malum illius de quo 
vindictam sumit, ut ibi quiescat, est omnino illicita; quia delectari in 
malo alterius pertinet ad odium, quod charitati repugnat. Si vero 
intentio vindicantis feratur principaliter in aliquod bonum, ad quod 
pervenitur per poenam peccantis, puta ad emendationem peccantis, vel 
saltem ad cobibitionem ejus et quietum aliorum, et ad justitiae con- 
servationem, et Dei honor em, potest esse vindicatio licita, aliis 
debitis circumstantiis seroatis." "Summ. Theol." 2a zae q. 108, 
art. I. 

2 " Fivo ego, dicit Dominus Deus, nolo mortem impii; sed ut con- 
vertatur impius a via sua, et vivat. Convertimini, convertimini a 
viis vestris pessimis." Ezechiel xxxiii. 11. 



CHRISTIAN VENGEANCE 237 

the guilty less punishment than the occasion 
merits 



1 



Virtue is always the exact mean between ex- 
tremes. The will to avenge an evil is properly 
a virtue. St. Thomas considers it as a special 
virtue which completes in each of us our natural 
repulsion for everything hurtful to us, makes us 
repel an injury which menaces us, and incites us 
to take vengeance for it after we have received 
it. What would you say of a man who, under 
the pretext of kindness, would endeavor to close 
all prisons and suppress the penal code? 

The collective crime of a nation which violates 
the rights of another nation is incomparably more 
grave than the crime of an individual whom 
society sends to the guillotine or the scaffold. 
We well understand that those who doubt the 
justice of their cause seek to see in war only sub- 
jects for pity or horror. But for us war is the 
means of making honor respected and right tri- 
umph, and of reestablishing on a pinnacle truth 
and the worship of the God who is Truth. Herein 
lies the grandeur and nobility of war and the 
justification of all its sacrifices. 

Let us therefore not confound hatred, a vice, 
with the spirit of just vengeance, a virtue. Hatred 

^ " Vindicationi opponuntur duo viiia: unum quidem per exces- 
sum, scilicet peccatum. crudelitatis, vel saevitiae, quae excedit men- 
suram in puniendo; aliud autem est vitium quod consistit in dejectu, 
sicut cum aliquis est nimis remissus in puniendo." "Summ. Theol." 
2a 2ae, q. 108, art. 2, ad. 3. 



238 CARDINAL MERCIER 

is inspired by an instinct of destruction. The 
virtue of vengeance is inspired by charity. Bravery 
paves the way for its advance, by banishing terror 
from the heart. Our King, our Government, and 
the Belgian people have shown their fortitude on 
August 2, 1914, at midnight, when they braved 
the insolence of the military colossus which now 
bestrides us. 

Having banished terror, the upright soul looks 
straight to his duty. An injury has been done to 
truth, justice, and God, and he considers it done 
to himself. The peril of his brothers becomes his 
own. The flame of the twofold love of God and 
humanity is lighted within him, and he decides 
to sacrifice himself in their defense, preferring 
anything rather than a dishonorable desertion of 
his duty. 

In all this we can see only charity and the zeal 
which is its flame. The Belgian people resolved 
on this grand act of charity; it has remained 
faithful to its choice; its tears, its strength, its 
fortune and its blood did not seem too great a 
price to pay for the triumph of right and to safe- 
guard its independence.^ 

But perhaps someone will say: "You have in- 
voked strict right, and we understand your posi- 

^ " Fortitudo disponit ad vindictam removendo prohibens, scilicet 
timorem periculi imminentis . Zelus autem, secundum quod importat 
fervorem amoris, importat primam radicem vindicationis, prout aliquis 
vindicat injurias Dei vel proximorum, quas ex charitate reputat quasi 
suas." "Summ. Theol." 2, 2, q. 108, Art. 2, ad. 2. 



CHRISTIAN VENGEANCE 239 

tion. But there is another point of view — that 
of Christian perfection. Is it not more perfect 
to return good for evil? Should not the Christian 
know how to pardon?" 

To return good for evil may be preferable in 
the case of individual wrongs, secretly inflicted. 
But, viewing the matter in a practical light, you 
have, my dear Colleagues, in the parishes of your 
deaneries hundreds of ravaged, pillaged, and 
burned hearths; the absent ones of your con- 
gregations, whether deported as military or civilian 
prisoners, are legion. Is it to avenge these per- 
sonal wrongs that your people demand justice? 
In the name of my experience, and no less confident 
of yours, I venture to answer: "No." 

It is the injury done to the nation which has 
evoked general indignation and demands repara- 
tion. The crimes against public order cannot 
remain unpunished. A prince who would exer- 
cise clemency systematically, would compromise 
public security. A people who would hold an 
amnesty with injustice, would be unworthy of 
liberty. 

The Gospel, it is true, always inclines towards 
forgiveness. But the Church knows on what 
conditions she may dispense it. Let us imitate 
her example. She demands from the sinner the 
confession of his fault; repentance; the promise 
not to relapse again into his error; if he has done 
an injustice, the promise to make restitution in 



240 CARDINAL MERCIER 

accordance with the well-known declaration of 
St. Augustine: "Non remittetur peccatum, nisi 
restituatur ablatum. Let no sin be remitted unless 
that which was taken away be restored"; and 
finally the acceptance of a penance in satis- 
faction of the penalties due for the offences com- 
mitted. 

As soon as our enemies shall have fulfilled these 
conditions, the hour of mercy will have struck for 
them. 

Certain sentimental souls grow uneasy at times 
when they remember the text: "But if one strike 
thee on thy right cheek, turn to him also the 
other." ^ If you wish to understand fully the 
meaning of this evangelical counsel, consider, says' 
St. Augustine, the example of our Lord Himself. 
While our Divine Master was submitting to the 
interrogation of Caiaphas, an officer ventured to 
strike Him. Our meek Saviour did not answer: 
"Here is the other cheek." He offered this 
dilemma to the guilty man: "If I have spoken 
evil, give testimony of the evil; but if well, why 
strikest thou Me?" ^ 

St. Paul the Apostle also, says St. Augustine, 
was scourged in public by order of Ananias, 
prince of the priests. Did the accused receive 
the blows in silence? "God shall strike thee, 
thou whited wall. For sittest thou to judge me 

1 Matthew v. 39. 

2 John xviii. 23. 



CHRISTIAN VENGEANCE 241 

according to the law, and contrary to the law 
commandest me to be struck." ^ 

This retort was accompanied by words of biting 
irony. 

Consequently the above-mentioned scriptural 
quotation should not be interpreted strictly ac- 
cording to the letter. It means that, whatever 
happens, we must remain masters of ourselves, 
and preserve our interior patience. As to our 
external conduct, that will depend on circum- 
stances. "Benevolence, properly understood, 
often counsels us to use harshness towards our 
neighbor. We should know how to correct him 
in spite of himself and have regard for his real 
interest rather than for his preferences." 

But has not the Lord said in Deuteronomy: 
" Revenge is Mine, and I will repay them." ^ 
And in his epistle to the Romans does not St. 
Paul give the same advice: "If it be possible, 
as much as is in you, have peace with all men. 
Revenge not yourselves, my dearly beloved; but 
give place unto wrath, for it is written: Revenge 
is Mine, I will repay, saith the Lord."^ 

Evidently these inspired texts do not mean 
that God reserves for His immediate action every 
exercise of repressive justice, seeing that in this 
same epistle to the Romans from which the 

^ Acts xxiii. 3-5. 

* Deuteronomy xxxii. 35. 

' Romans xii. 18-19. 



242 CARDINAL MERCIER 

above words are taken, the Apostle declares ex- 
pressly that the representative of public power 
"beareth not the sword in vain. For he is God's 
minister: an avenger to execute wrath upon him 
that doth evil." ^ 

According to St. Thomas, the meaning of these 
texts of Scripture is as follows: External offenses 
fall under the repressive power of the public 
authorities, but in the case of hidden faults I 
reserve to myself the right of judging and punish- 
ing them. And you Christians do not form pre- 
mature judgments: "Judge not before the time."^ 

Or perhaps, says the holy doctor, the texts 
may have this other meaning: "The crimes of 
men offend God. So it is to God that justice and 
reparation are due. It is to usurp a divine pre- 
rogative, to claim for one's self the intention of 
justice. ** 

One last question may be considered. Does it 
befit* the clergy to take part in conflicts which 
are brought about by the war and occupation .f* 
Are not the bishop and his priests to devote them- 

^ Romans xiii. 4. 

2 / Corinthians iv. 5. 

^ " Circa vindictam Deus aliquid sibi soli retinuit. Inferre enim 
vindictam in manifestis delictis, aliis commisit qui constituuntur in 
ordine alicujus potestatis. . . . De occultis vero sibi soli judicium et 
vindictam reservavit, secundum illud: ' N elite ante tempus judicare.' 

" Sibi etiam reservavit Deus ut propter seipsum vindicaretur: homo 
enim non debet vindicari propter seipsum, sed propter culpam commis- 
sam, quae est offensa Dei. ^uando ergo aliquis quaerit vindictam propter 
seipsum, vel praeter ordinem judiciariae potestatis, usurpat sibi quod 
Dei est." — " De Malo," q. XII, art. 3, ad 5. 



CHRISTIAN VENGEANCE 243 

selves exclusively to the spiritual needs of the 
faithful? 

The Church is not an invisible society composed 
of pure spirits. The faithful are exposed to perils 
of the body and of the soul, of time and eternity. 
The solicitude of their pastors should extend to 
all these interests. Listen again to St. Thomas: 
"The pastors of the Church may not content 
themselves with resisting the wolves which cause 
the spiritual death of their flock. They should 
also oppose the ravishers of the people, and tyrants 
who cause physical suffering to their flock. Not 
that the representatives of ecclesiastical authority 
should themselves handle material arms, but they 
should make use of spiritual weapons — that is 
to say, address salutary warnings to the guilty 
parties, pray fervently and excommunicate ob- 
stinate rebels." ^ 

The ambiguities which we have endeavored to 
explain away in this discussion of charity towards 
our enemies have their origin in an inadequate 
conception of charity. In the eyes of numerous 
persons who are badly instructed in the Christian 
religion, the virtues are like so many threads 
running parallel to each other in the weaving 

^ " Praelati debent resistere non solum lupis, qui spiritualiter inter- 
ficiunt gregem, sed etiam raftoribus et tyrannis qui corporaliter vexant; 
non autem materialibus armis in propria persona utendo, sed spiritu- 
alibus, quae quidem sunt salubres admonitiones, devotae orationes, 
contra pertinaces excommunicationis sententia." " Summ. Theol." 2, 2, 
q. 40, art. 2, ad i. 



244 CARDINAL MERCIER 

machine. These threads differ in quality per- 
haps. Charity may even be conceded a superior 
quahty, but it none the less runs parallel to the 
other threads of the warp. One can understand 
how the mind thus accommodates itself to the 
idea of a charity without justice, and how 
a means should be then sought of reconciling 
them. 

But the above analogy is not at all in accordance 
with reality. Charity is the woof which forms a 
single tissue out of all the threads of the Chris- 
tian virtues. All virtues may be included in a 
single precept: "Love God and love your neigh- 
bor for the love of God." Fundamentally there 
is only one virtue — the love of God for His own 
sake and the love of one's neighbor for the love 
of God. The Christian should be temperate, 
strong, just, prudent, but through charity; he 
should believe in God and hope in Him, but through 
charity. He should practice charity through 
charity. Charity is the sole inspiring and direct- 
ing force of all moral and religious life. 

There is no Christian justice without charity. 
There is no charity without justice. And inas- 
much as avenging justice is a part of the virtue 
of justice, there is no charity without avenging 
justice. To desire to close one's eyes to injustice 
under the pretext of an heroic charity; to grant 
impunity to the crimes of an enemy, because he 
is an enemy, is to misunderstand the sovereign 



^ 



CHRISTIAN VENGEANCE 245 

and necessary dominion of charity over the or- 
ganization of the moral, individual, and social 
life of Christianized humanity. If we praise or 
ignore the faults of a naughty child, we are spoil- 
ing him, not loving him. We must not spoil 
either our enemies or our friends. 

Charity is one, but the mode of its exercise 
varies according to the object to which charity 
is directed. When we love the soul of a just man, 
we desire his perseverance; when we love the 
soul of a sinner, we desire his conversion. Let us 
imitate our holy mother, the Church. On Good 
Friday she prays for her faithful children and also 
for heretics and schismatics, for the descendants 
of the chosen people, and for the pagan nations. 
But for the first she asks sanctity and progress; 
for the others she desires repentance and the 
opening of their eyes to the light of truth. 

It may not be amiss to remark that, in the pul- 
pit and in the spiritual direction of souls, too great 
neglect is shown of this law which governs the 
contexture of the Christian virtues in the tissue 
of life. This neglect leads to the formation of 
fragmentary souls who are acquainted only with 
partial aspects of good, and of devotional souls — • 
the world often calls them bigots — who prac- 
tice their charity towards God under the form of 
ritual exercises, but who do not make of this 
fundamental virtue the soul of their morality and 
their piety. 



246 CARDINAL MERCIER 

In the pursuit of good it is not sufficient to 
regulate duly the attraction of pleasure {temper- 
ance); to brave the obstacles which are opposed 
to the acquisition or possession of moral good 
{strength of soul, courage^ fortitude); to prac- 
tice good and resist evil in such a way as not 
to infringe on the rights of others {justice). 
The virtues must be exercised within reason- 
able limits, without excess or defect — with 
prudence} 

Prudence thus introduces a unity in the perfect 
practice of good. It disposes a man who does 
good to do it well : honum bene facere. But the 
primordial law of prudence is to direct man to 
his true end — that is, to his supernatural or 
Christian end, for mankind has no other. Hence, 
the sovereign law of prudence is that it be inspired 
by charity. Charity, poured into the soul by 
the Holy Spirit in Baptism, first directs the will 
towards our true end — God — whom faith reveals 
to us and hope makes us regard as our Supreme 
Good. Then, it imposes on supernaturalized 
prudence the duty of subordinating to God all 
other goods outside Himself, as so many means 
of reaching Our end. Thoughts, desires, resolu- 
tions, works, moral virtues, the theological vir- 
tues of faith and hope are thus placed in the 
service of charity, the unifying principle par 

^ All moral virtues, as is known, depend on the four "cardinal" 
or fundamental virtues which are here quoted. 



CHRISTIAN VENGEANCE 247 

excellence of the whole moral and religious life of 
man and humanity.^ 

From this elevated point of view, which alone 
can be considered complete and true (in the full 
meaning of this word), moral or religious "par- 
ticularism" becomes incomprehensible in a Chris- 
tian life. Opposition between patriotism and 
justice, between justice and charity, becomes 
devoid of meaning. 

Under the form of "habits," the Christian 
virtues appear, increase or decrease, and dis- 
appear together. Have you sujfficiently meditated 
on this unity in the organization of the Christian 
life, its extent, its harmony.? Have you con- 
sidered how splendidly this order reveals itself 
in the individual conscience and the social inter- 
course? Have you, in a word, sufficiently realized 
this beauty of charity? 

Have you sufficiently insisted on the inter- 
pretation of the virtues by the love of God and 
held up the elevation and fertility of Christian 
morality to the admiration of the people ? Whence 

^ S. Thomas, "Summ. Theol.," i, 2, qu. 65, art. 2, " Aliae virtutes 
morales non possunt esse sine prudentia; prudentia autem non potest 
esse sine virtutibus moralibus inquantum virtutes morales faciunt bene 
se habere ad quosdam fines, ex quibus procedit ratio prudentiae. Ad 
rectam autem rationem prudentiae, multo magis requiritur quod homo 
bene se habeat circa ultimum finem, quod fit, per caritatem, quam circa 
alios fines, quod fit per virtutes morales. Unde manifestum fit quod nee 
prudentia infusa potest esse sine caritate; nee aliae virtutes morales 
consequenter, quae sine prudentia esse non possunt." Cfr. ibid., 
4 et art. 5, de unione fidei et spei cum caritate. 



248 CARDINAL MERCIER 

comes it that so many souls lower their Chris- 
tianity to the level of naturalism? Put that 
question to yourselves, directors of souls, and 
supply the answer. 

//. Charity towards our Fellow-citizens 

You are aware of the dissensions which have 
arisen between the country people and the town 
folks, and between merchants and customers in 
consequence of the increased cost of food and 
clothing. It is not easy to define the responsi- 
biUty of the different classes in these matters. 
Justice and charity, however, are both concerned 
in these complex problems. As to the questions 
of justice involved, I gave you, the day of the 
meeting, a note containing some general sugges- 
tions which you can turn to profitable account, 
especially in the confessional and in your con- 
versations with the parties interested. But we 
must not forget that one can sin otherwise than 
by committing an offense against commutative 
justice. Charity towards individuals and legal 
justice — that is to say, respect for the common 
good — are also binding on the conscience, and 
this obligation becomes grave according to the 
gravity of the matter. 

In the pulpit and in the confessional, insist on 
the practice of charity, on how odious it is to see 
exorbitant profits made at the expense of those 
who are in poverty or want, and on the obliga- 



CHRISTIAN VENGEANCE 249 

tion of avoiding everything that provokes hatred, 
jealousies, and rancor. 

///. Charity towards our Country 

Article 43 of the regulation concerning the laws 
and customs of war on land added to the Hague 
Convention, October 18, 1907, stipulates: "The 
authority of legal power having actually passed 
into the hands of the occupying party, the latter 
will take all measures within his power to re- 
estabhsh and assure, in so far as is possible, public 
order and life, tvhile respecting the laws in force 
in the country except in so far as he is absolutely 
prevented from doing so." 

It is very interesting to note that the Plan for 
an International Convention presented by Russia 
at the Conference of Brussels in 1874 permitted 
the occupying party "to maintain the laws in 
force, to modify them or suppress them entirely 
according to the exigencies of the war and with 
a view to public interest." The Conference, how- 
ever, rejected this suggestion, and adopted a more 
restrictive clause, which permitted the occupy- 
ing party to modify or suspend the laws in force 
only "if it is necessary." The regulation added to 
the Hague Convention, July 29, 1899, and that 
added to the Hague Convention, October 18, 
1907, are more rigorous still, as they forbid all 
modification except in so far as it is absolutely 
impossible to do otherwise. These successive 



250 CARDINAL MERCIER 

changes of wording show conclusively the mature 
and determined desire of the signatories to impose 
on the occupying party respect for the laws 
which are in force in occupied territory. The dele- 
gates from Germany were the first signatories of 
this Article 43 of the Regulation added to the 
Convention. 

Now the occupying government aims at the 
overthrow of the general administration of our 
country. It seems to have taken as its motto: 
"Divide et impera." The creation of the so- 
called University of Ghent, the administrative 
separation which has existed so long in certain 
ministries but which a certain recent decree has 
just made general, the public or clandestine en- 
couragement given to journals and conventions 
(whether of thoughtless Walloons or foolish 
Flemings) which foster antagonism between the 
two races traditionally united under the Belgian 
flag, represent so many attempts — happily futile 
— to disturb our national union. 

Those who would favor such equivocal conduct 
would be traitors to their native land. Questions 
of internal politics concern only the Belgians, and 
can be decided only by the Belgian Chambers, 
the Belgian Government and the King of the 
Belgians. 

Be watchful, my dear Deans. Make the faith- 
'ful avoid deceitful writings and conventions. 
Watch for and put an end to the schemes of traitors 



CHRISTIAN VENGEANCE 25 1 

who would make common cause with the enemy. 
Restrain the extravagances of youth. The nation 
has defied violence; let her beware of seduction. 
Patriotic piety is a virtue. Your state of life con- 
stitutes you the guardians and preachers of virtue. 

SERENITY 

"What I first recognized in our blessed father," 
said St. Chantal, "was the gift of a very perfect 
faith. ... I have always seen the saint aspire 
to and breathe only the desire to live according 
to the truths of faith and the maxims of the 
Gospel. He used to say that the true way to 
serve God was to follow Him and walk after Him 
on the fine point of the soul, without any sup- 
port of consolation, of sentiment or light ex- 
cept that of simple and naked faith. That 
is why he loved interior weariness, tribulation 
and desolation." ^ 

"If I wish only pure water," says St. Francis 
de Sales, "what matter if it be brought to me in 
a golden vase or in a glass? I should even love 
it better in the glass, because there is then no 
color but that of the water, and I see it thus much 
better. What does it matter if the will of God is 
presented to me in tribulation or in consolation, 
since in both I wish and seek nothing else than 
the Divine Will, which is shown forth all the more 
clearly when there is no other beauty in evidence 

^ Letter of St. Jane Frances de Chantal on St. Francis de Sales. 



252 CARDINAL MERCIER 

than that of the holy and eternal good pleasure 
of the Lord." ' 

The pious Elizabeth of the Holy Trinity, a 
Carmelite nun of Dijon, used to say that the 
Christian has nothing to do with secondary causes, 
but with God alone. 

And does the Gospel not state: "If thy eye be 
single [ii thy eye regard but one thing, is fixed by 
faith on God], thy whole body shall be light- 
some." ^ That is, thou shalt be entirely bathed 
in light. 

Turn your thoughts directly to your God. He 
is the sovereign Master of events. He and none 
other. "I am the Lord, and there is no other." ^ 
Love Him for He loves you. He is love's very 
substance. He has begotten you in His only Son 
in whom repose all His favors. He is a father to 
you. Be a son to Him. Love Him, and, while 
hoping that it will be granted to you to behold 
His living personality in glory, adore Him in the 
manifestations of His Divine Will. Embrace 
these manifestations, each and all, chanting the 
eternal hymn of filial acquiescence: "Our Father, 
who art in Heaven. . . . Thy will be done on 
earth as it is in Heaven." 

How far should our surrender to the divine 
love extend.? 

^ " Treatise on the Love of God," lib. ix, cap. iv. 
2 Matthew vi. 22. 
' Isaias xlv. 18. 



CHRISTIAN VENGEANCE 253 

The holy bishop will tell us. He brings before 
our eyes the little Infant Jesus and His Blessed 
Mother, and the dialogue which the saint holds 
with the Divine Child is a sublime lesson in 
spirituality. 

Here is a preliminary insight into the idea of 
perfect renunciation: "We, little children of the 
Heavenly Father, can walk with Him in two ways. 
In the first place, we can walk with Him by 
following the way of our own will, conforming 
this will to His, always holding the hand of His 
divine intention with the hand of obedience, and 
following His intention whithersoever it leads 
us. . . . But we can also walk with our Saviour 
without having any will of our owh, simply allow- 
ing ourselves to be borne along the way of His 
divine pleasure (as an infant is borne in the arms 
of its mother) in a species of admirable consent 
which may be called the union, or better still the 
unity, of our will with God's. Thus it is that we 
should endeavor to conduct ourselves towards 
the divine pleasure, in so far as the effects of this 
divine pleasure come solely from Providence, and 
have not their origin in ourselves. 

*'It is true that we can wish events to happen 
in accordance with the will of God, and this wish 
is very good. But we may well also accept all 
events sent by the divine pleasure with a very 
simple tranquillity of will, which, not wishing 
anything whatsoever itself, lends a complete 



254 CARDINAL MERCIER 

acquiescence in everything that God wishes done 
in us, to us and by us." 

Some pages later the holy doctor declares it 
very difficult to define clearly the extreme indiffer- 
ence of the human will when it is thus submerged 
in the will of God. It is not an " acquiescence," 
for that is an action of the soul when it declares 
its consent. It is not an "acceptance," for to 
accept is the action of embracing what happens 
to us. It is not a "permission," for to permit 
signifies a certain sluggish act of the will, which, 
while unwilling to do something itself, is ready 
to allow its performance by an outside agency. 
"It appears to me therefore that the soul which 
is in this state of indifference, and which wishes 
nothing, but lets God will what He pleases, might 
be said to retain its will in a state of simple and 
general expectancy — a loving expectancy — so 
much the more so as to await is not to do or to 
act, but to be ready for any occurrence. And, if 
we examine it closely, the expectancy of the soul 
is really voluntary, and is yet not an action, but 
a simple disposition to receive whatever will 
happen. After the events have occurred, the 
expectancy is converted into consent or acqui- 
escence, but before the occurrence the soul is 
really only in a simple expectancy, indifferent as to 
what it may please the divine pleasure to ordain." 

These preliminary ideas stated, the pious dia- 
logue of the saint with the Infant Jesus follows: 



CHRISTIAN VENGEANCE 255 

**If anyone had asked the sweet Infant Jesus, 
as He was borne along in the arms of His Mother, 
whither He was going, would He not rightly have 
answered: *I am not going; My Mother is going 
for Me.' 

"And if He had been asked: *But are you not 
at least going with Your Mother,' would He not 
have rightly replied: 'No, I do not go at all, or 
if I do go where My Mother carries Me, I do not 
go with her nor by any steps of My own, but I 
go by the steps of My Mother, by her and in 
her.' 

"And if He were questioned still further: *But 
at least, O dear Divine Child, You will to allow 
Yourself to be carried by Your sweet Mother?' 
'Not so, by any means,' He would have said, *I 
will nothing of that, but, inasmuch as My dear 
Mother walks for Me, she also wills for Me; I 
leave her alike the care of going and of willing 
to go for Me wherever she pleases. And, as I 
walk only by her steps, I also will only through 
her will; and, as long as I am in her arms, I do 
not intend to will or not to will, leaving to My 
Mother every other care, provided I remain at 
her bosom, am nourished at her breast, and cling 
to her adorable neck where I can kiss her lovingly 
with My lips. . . . That is the reason why, just 
as her walking suffices for her and for Me, without 
My taking a single step, her will also suffices for 
her and for Me, without My forming a wish for 



256 CARDINAL MERCIER 

anything that is to come or to go. Consequently, 
I am indifferent whether she goes quickly or 
leisurely, or whether she goes in this direction or 
that, nor do I ever inquire whither she wishes to 
go, resting content that, whatever happens, I am 
always in her arms.' 

"O divine Child of Mary, grant to my wretched 
soul this transport of devotion. And go then, O 
beloved and adorable Infant — or rather do not 
go, but remain — thus hoHly clasped to the bosom 
of your sweet Mother. Go always in her and 
through her, or with her, and never go without 
her in the days of Thy childhood. Blessed is 
the womb that bore Thee and the paps that gave 
Thee suck!" 

After reminding us that our Saviour had the 
use of reason from the moment of His concep- 
tion, and could thus hold the discourses which 
have just been attributed to Him, St. Francis 
turns to his disciple, Theotimus, and continues: 

"We should be like that, Theotimus, rendering 
ourselves flexible and plastic to the divine pleas- 
ure, as if we were of wax — not amusing ourselves 
desiring and wishing for things, but letting them 
be wished and done by God just as it pleases 
Him, referring to Him (as the Apostle says) all 
our solicitude inasmuch as He has care of us. 
Notice that he says all our solicitude — that is 
to say, both our solicitude over the outcome of 
events and our solicitude in wilHng and not willing. 



CHRISTIAN VENGEANCE 257 

For He will take care of the success of our affairs, 
and will will for us whatever is best. 

"Let it be our constant care to bless God for 
whatever He shall do, saying like Job: 'The Lord 
has given me much, the Lord has taken it away. 
Blessed be the name of the Lord.' No, Lord, I 
wish for nothing, but leave everything for You to 
will according to Your good pleasure; and, instead 
of wiUing any events, I will bless You because 
You have willed them. O Theotimus, how excel- 
lent is this occupation of our will, when, relinquish- 
ing all preference as to how the divine pleasure 
may manifest itself, it takes up the task of prais- 
ing and thanking the divine pleasure for all its 
manifestations!" ^ 

CONCLUSION 

My dear Colleagues, let us draw inspiration 
from these noble teachings. Let us raise our- 
selves above our impressions, above our reason- 
ings and conjectures, above the clouds which 
envelop our poor human conceptions, to that 
serene sphere where the soul, rid of its passions 
and of itself, finds itself untrammeled in the 
presence of the divine pleasure. 

Every day has its own trials. The practice of 
moral virtues varies with circumstances. At the 
present moment, meekness, fortitude, and serenity, 
assembled in the warm atmosphere of charity, 

^ "Treatise on the Love of God," lib. ix, cap. xiv-xv. 



258 CARDINAL MERCIER 

are especially necessary for us. We have the 
divine mission of sustaining ana encouraging our 
people. Whatever be the human motives for our 
confidence in the future — and you now feel, 
more than ever, that they are justified — let us 
seek for better. After the example of Moses — 
who, according to the Epistle to the Hebrews, had 
as lively a faith in God as if he had seen Him 
with his eyes "By faith ... he endured as 
seeing Him that is invisible,"^ let us in fiHal 
fashion deliver our whole souls to God. Let this 
faith inspire our judgments and temper our wills. 
Immovable ourselves, we shall sustain our breth- 
ren. The Belgian people has not flinched; with 
the grace of God, it will not flinch. Its serenity 
will continue unaltered to the end of this harsh 
and prolonged trial; it will console our absent 
ones, thank our benefactors, encourage our soldiers, 
bless our Allies, and make its obeisance before 
His Majesty, King Albert. Until the end, this 
serenity will be our expression of defiance to our 
oppressors, our daily act of patriotism, the 
homage of Belgium to the wisdom, the good- 
ness, the justice, and the mercy of God. 

^ Hebrews xi. 27. 
THE END 



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